## Facts

- C.A. Rinehart executed a will in 1929 creating a testamentary trust for his minor daughter, Merle Rinehart Snodgrass, naming United States National Bank of Portland as trustee.
- The trust provided staged monthly income payments to Merle through age 32, and directed distribution of the trust principal to her at age 32 after Rinehart’s death.
- Distribution of principal to Merle was expressly conditioned on her proving to the trustee’s “entire satisfaction” that she had not become a Catholic and had never married a Catholic.
- The will provided alternative gifts of the trust principal to specified relatives as contingent beneficiaries if Merle failed to meet the condition.
- Rinehart died before Merle reached age 32.
- About two years after his death, Merle married a Roman Catholic.
- When Merle turned 32, the trustee sought a declaratory judgment to determine whether Merle or the contingent beneficiaries were entitled to the trust principal.

## Issues

1. Whether a testamentary condition requiring a beneficiary not to become Catholic and not to marry a Catholic in order to receive trust principal is void as an unreasonable restraint on marriage or as contrary to public policy concerning religious freedom.
2. Whether the clause operates as a condition precedent (preventing vesting of the principal in the beneficiary) or as a condition subsequent (divesting a vested interest).
3. Whether, under the will’s language and Oregon law, failure to satisfy the condition requires distribution of the trust principal to the named contingent beneficiaries.

## Decision

- The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the decree directing distribution of the trust principal to the contingent beneficiaries.
- The court upheld the religious/marital condition as a valid, enforceable partial restraint on marriage.
- The court construed the clause as a condition precedent to Merle’s right to receive the trust principal at age 32.
- Because Merle married a Catholic, she did not satisfy the condition and never became entitled to the principal (though she was entitled to the trust income as provided).

## Legal Principles

- A testator may condition a gift on compliance with specified requirements unless the condition is unlawful or clearly contrary to public policy.
- Total restraints on marriage are generally void, but reasonable partial restraints (including restrictions tied to a prospective spouse’s religion) may be enforceable.
- When a will makes transfer of property contingent upon satisfaction of a stated requirement, the requirement is construed as a condition precedent if the language indicates the beneficiary takes only upon performance.
- Conditioning a private testamentary benefit on conduct or affiliation is generally treated as a private disposition of property rather than governmental regulation of religion or marriage.

## Conclusion

The court enforced the will’s requirement that the beneficiary neither become Catholic nor marry a Catholic as a valid partial restraint on marriage and a condition precedent to taking the trust principal; because the beneficiary married a Catholic, the principal passed to the will’s contingent beneficiaries.


United States Nat’l Bank of Portland v. Snodgrass, 202 Or. 530, 275 P.2d 860 (Or. 1954)