Salt Lake City, USA - State attorneys, a court-appointed fiduciary and leaders of a southern Utah polygamous church wrapped up 12 hours at the negotiating table Friday with split opinions about resolving a dispute over control of a land trust.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the sides were "close," while fiduciary Bruce Wisan said there was still an unresolved issue and the sides were "quite a ways apart."
At stake is the United Effort Plan Trust, which holds most of the land and homes in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., twin border towns long controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Church members consider communal living a religious principle and formed the trust in the 1940s to benefit all who kept the tenets of the church.
The Utah courts seized the trust after state attorneys argued that church president Warren Jeffs and other church leaders had mismanaged its assets by, among other things, failing to respond to civil lawsuits from 2004 that left it vulnerable to liquidation.
The parties are scheduled to appear in 3rd District Court next week to update Judge Denise Lindberg on the progress toward a settlement. Confidentiality rules prohibit anyone from disclosing specifics.
"I think all sides have come a long way," Shurtleff said. "We're still trying to get everybody to agree so we can all go together to the judge."
Shurtleff's remarks came several hours after Wisan and an assistant attorney general for Arizona left the meetings. At the time, Wisan said the parties were still wrestling over one
"significant issue." Three days of settlement talks last month ended with no deal.
Ultimately, Lindberg will decide whether the settlement is fair.
On Wisan's watch, the trust was converted into a secular entity, paving the way for former church members - whether they were excommunicated or left voluntarily - to return to the community to claim their share of the assets.
The FLDS considers secular management of the trust a violation of its religious rights. Church members rejected Wisan's management and, aside from paying property taxes, have mostly ignored him unless threatened with evictions.
Six months ago, when Wisan sought court permission to sell off land set aside for a church temple, the sect changed course and sued to regain control of the trust.
Negotiators are trying to resolve a host of issues, including the distribution of homes and undeveloped trust property; public access to cemeteries, parks and a medical clinic; and payment of some $2.6 million owed to Wisan and his attorneys in trust management fees.