Chapter 306: Religious Societies Generally

No person shall be liable as a member of an incorporated religious society without his or her express consent first having been obtained; and any person may separate from any such society.

Any 2 or more unincorporated religious societies may merge together, providing that each society, by vote of 2/3 of the qualified members present and voting at a meeting legally called for that purpose, shall so approve.

The trustees, deacons, church wardens or other similar officers of churches or religious societies, if citizens of the United States, shall be deemed bodies corporate for the purpose of taking and holding in succession grants and donations, whether of real or personal estate, made either to them and their successors, or to their respective churches, or to the poor of their churches.

No conveyance of the lands of a church shall be effectual to pass the same without the consent of the church, or a committee of the church appointed for that purpose.

No conveyance made by a minister of lands held by him or her in succession shall be valid any longer than he or she shall continue to be such minister unless the conveyance shall be made with the consent of the parish or religious society of which he or she is minister.

The several churches are authorized to choose committees for the purpose of settling the accounts of the trustees, deacons, and other church officers and, if necessary, to commence and prosecute a suit in the name of the church against the trustees, deacons, or other officers relating to the accounts.

The standing financial committee of each monthly meeting of the people called Friends or Quakers, and each monthly meeting thereof, shall be a body corporate to take and hold in succession grants and donations of real or personal estate made to the use of such meeting or to the use of any preparative meeting belonging thereto, to alienate or manage such real and personal estate according to the terms and conditions of the grants and donations, and to prosecute and defend in any action relating to the grants and donations; but the whole income of the grants and donations shall not exceed the sum of $10,000 a year.

No religious society or corporation shall be dissolved or extinguished, nor shall its right or title to any property acquired by purchase, gift, devise, bequest or otherwise be in any way affected by the neglect or omission of the society or corporation to hold its annual meeting or to choose its officers, or by reason of the omission or neglect of its clerk or any other officer to be sworn, or by reason of any informality in the election of its officers or defect in its records.