New York · statute · N.Y. Religious Corporations Law · 372 active provisions
RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS LAW LAWS 1909, CHAPTER 53 AN ACT in relation to religious corporations, constituting chapter fifty-one of the consolidated laws. Became a law February 17, 1909, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and As…
ARTICLE 1 SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITIONS Section 1. Short title. 2. Definitions. 2-a. Application. 2-b. Applicability of not-for-profit corporation law.
§ 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the "Religious Corporations Law."
§ 2. Definitions. A "Religious Corporations Law corporation" is a corporation created for religious purposes to which this chapter applies under section two-a of this chapter. Unless the context otherwise requires, whenever "religious corporation" or "corporation" is used in this chapter, such term shall mean a "Religi…
§ 2-a. Application. This chapter applies (a) to every corporation heretofore or hereafter formed under this chapter, and (b) to every corporation formed under any other statute or special act of this state which would, if it were to be formed currently under the laws of this state, be formed under this chapter, and (c)…
§ 2-b. Applicability of not-for-profit corporation law. 1. The not-for-profit corporation law applies to every corporation to which this chapter applies, provided that: (a) If any provision of the not-for-profit corporation law conflicts with any provision of this chapter, the provision of this chapter shall prevail an…
ARTICLE 2 GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 3. Filing and recording certificates of incorporation of religious corporations. 4. Property of unincorporated society transferred by its incorporation. 4-a. Age qualifications of voters. 5. General powers and duties of trustees of religious corporations. 5-a. Investment of funds. 5…
§ 3. Filing and recording certificates of incorporation of religious corporations. The certificate of incorporation of a religious corporation shall be acknowledged or proved before an officer authorized to take the acknowledgment or proof of deeds or conveyances of real estate, to be recorded in the county in which th…
§ 4. Property of unincorporated society transferred by its incorporation. All the temporalities and property of an unincorporated church, or of any unincorporated religious society, body, association or congregation, shall, on the incorporation thereof, become the temporalities and property of such corporation, whether…
§ 4-a. Age qualifications of voters. To vote at a corporate meeting of a corporation to which this chapter applies, persons, otherwise qualified to vote, shall be of full age unless (1) the age qualifications for voting at corporate meetings are fixed by or pursuant to an applicable provision in articles three through…
§ 5. General powers and duties of trustees of religious corporations. The trustees of every religious corporation shall have the custody and control of all the temporalities and property, real and personal, belonging to the corporation and of the revenues therefrom, and shall administer the same in accordance with the…
§ 5-a. Investment of funds. Subject to the discipline, rules and usages of the corporation and of the ecclesiastical governing body, if any, to which the corporation is subject and subject to the limitations and conditions contained in any gift, devise or bequest, and subject to any applicable provisions of law with re…
§ 5-b. Any investment of the funds of any religious corporation heretofore made by the trustees thereof shall not be deemed to have been restricted to securities which are lawful for the investment of trust funds.
§ 6. Acquisition of property by religious corporations for branch institutions; establishment, maintenance and management thereof. Any religious corporation may acquire property for associate houses, church buildings, chapels, mission-houses, school-houses for Sunday or parochial schools, or dispensaries of medicine fo…
§ 7. Acquisition of property by religious corporations for cemetery purposes; management thereof. A religious corporation may take and hold, by purchase, grant, gift or devise, real property for the purposes of a cemetery; or such lot or lots in any cemetery connected with it, as may be conveyed or devised to it, with…
§ 7-a. Deeds for cemetery purposes; presumption. Every deed of conveyance of real property to a religious corporation used for cemetery purposes, whether heretofore or hereafter recorded, shall be presumptive evidence that the conveyance vested in the grantee and its successors a fee simple absolute in the premises the…
§ 8. Lot owners' rights. Lots in such cemeteries shall be held indivisible, and upon the decease of a proprietor of such lot the title thereto shall descend to his heirs-at-law or devisees, subject, however, to the following limitations and conditions: If he leaves a widow and children, they shall have in common the po…
§ 8-a. Reacquisition of a lot, plot or part thereof by a cemetery. A religious cemetery corporation may, upon application and approval by a supreme court, reacquire, resubdivide, and resell a lot, plot or part thereof under the following circumstances: (a)(i) If the records of the corporation demonstrate that the lot,…
§ 9. Removal of human remains from one cemetery of a religious corporation to another cemetery owned by it. A religious corporation, notwithstanding the restrictions contained in any conveyance or devise to it, may remove the human remains buried in a cemetery owned by it, or when such church corporation is situated wi…
§ 10. Acquisition of property by two or more religious corporations for a common parsonage. Two or more religious corporations may acquire such real property as may be necessary for use as a parsonage, and the right, title and interest of each corporation therein shall be in proportion to its contribution to the cost o…
§ 11. Correction and confirmation of conveyances to religious corporations. If, in a conveyance of real property, or in any instrument intended to operate as such, heretofore or hereafter made to a religious corporation, its corporate name is not stated or is not correctly stated, but such conveyance or instrument indi…
§ 12. Sale, mortgage and lease of real property of religious corporations. 1. A religious corporation shall not sell, mortgage or lease for a term exceeding five years any of its real property without applying for and obtaining leave of the court or the attorney general therefor pursuant to section five hundred eleven…
§ 13. Consolidation or merger of incorporated churches. Two or more incorporated churches may enter into an agreement, under their respective corporate seals, for the consolidation or merger of such corporations, setting forth the name of the proposed new corporation or surviving corporation, the denomination, if any,…
§ 14. Judicial investigation of amount of property of religious corporations. The supreme court at a special term, held in the judicial district in which the principal place of worship or of holding corporate meetings of a religious corporation is situated, may require such corporation to make and file an inventory of…
§ 15. Corporations with governing authority over, or advisory relations with, churches or synods, or both. 1. An unincorporated diocesan convention, presbytery, classes, synod unless otherwise provided, annual or biennial conference or convention, or other governing or advisory body having jurisdiction over or relation…