Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1978 [PAGE 442]

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1977]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

431

On motion of Mrs. Rader, the recommendation was approved by the following vote: Aye, Mr. Howard, Mrs. Rader; no, none; absent, Mr. Neal. The business of the meeting having been concluded, the Executive Committee adjourned.

JANE HAYES RADER EARL W. PORTER GEORGE W. HOWARD III

Secretary and Clerk This report was received for record.

Chairman

Litigation Relating to Estate of Elmo S. Giles, Jr., Deceased

(49) Elmo S. Giles, Jr., a Texas resident who formerly lived in Macon County, Illinois, died in 1968, leaving a will which created a life estate for his wife in approximately 357 acres of farmland in Macon County, Illinois. Mrs. Giles is still living. Under the terms of the will, at the wife's death the real estate is placed in trust, and the income will be divided equally between the University of Illinois and the Illinois Masonic Home. T h e one-half income, when received by the University, is "to be used by it for scholarships for worthy students enrolled in the College of Agriculture and shall be known as 'The Sard Giles Scholarship Fund.' " One tract of approximately 197 acres, which was subject to a $48,000 mortgage, was sold during the Illinois probate period to generate funds to pay debts and taxes. The University has recently been named as a defendant in a complaint filed in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Macon County (Case No. 77-CH-51), along with the other beneficiaries under the will of Elmo S. Giles, Jr., including Mrs. Giles. The complaint has been brought by the individuals who are the beneficiaries under the will of Leta G. Timmons, who was an aunt of Elmo S. Giles, Jr., and who died in 1972. It appears from the complaint that Leta G. Timmons was devised a 320-acre tract of land in Macon County by the will of her father. The terms of the devise were such that, until now, it was assumed that at Leta's death without descendants these 320 acres passed to the Elmo S. Giles, Jr., estate. It is alleged that Elmo S. Giles, Jr.'s, widow has been receiving the income from the 320 acres since Leta Timmons' death in 1972. The complaint seeks a determination by the court that the 320 acres, in which Leta G. Timmons had a life estate, passed at her death in 1972 equally to the Elmo S. Giles, Jr., estate and to the Leta G. Timmons estate, that the widow of Elmo S. Giles, Jr., be required to account for the rents and profits of the 320 acres since the death of Leta Timmons, and that the 320 acres be partitioned between the two estates. In addition, the plaintiffs seek attorney's fees and costs. Pursuant to previous delegations by the Board of Trustees, the university counsel has been given authorization on an interim basis to take such steps as are necessary or appropriate, including the employment of special counsel, to protect the interests of the University in this matter. The university counsel has recommended that such authorization be ratified, approved, and confirmed in all respects. I concur. T h e s t u d e n t a d v i s o r y v o t e w a s : Aye, M i s s C o n l o n , M r . O v e r s t r e e t , Miss W i n t e r ; no, none.

On motion of Mrs. Shepherd, this recommendation was approved by