Source: Chron.com

http://www.ueptrust.com

A spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was in state court Thursday to ask a judge if members can ultimately own their homes, now held by a state-managed church trust.

A state-appointed accountant has managed the $110 million United Effort Plan Trust for three years.

The UEP is the charitable arm of the FLDS church. The trust was formed in 1942, when church members turned over their property and other assets to the church to establish a communal order along the Utah/Arizona border where they had lived since the 1920s. Church leaders served as the trust’s managers.

Judge Denise Lindberg on Thursday told Willie Jessop that under the newly revised trust managed by accountant Bruce Wisan, members can own their own homes, with some restrictions. She also sought to assure him there is no bias against the church in the management of the trust.

“I can honestly tell you I have no bias against FLDS. I don’t have a bias for FLDS or for people who have been formerly FLDS. I truly have no view on that issue,” Lindberg said. “I believe that in the long term efforts toward where this trust is going that the most appropriate thing is … to allow and create the opportunity for people to be able to own their property and be able to control it. I’m not going to put a religious test on that.”
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