N.Y. Religious Corporations Law Section 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, to which it is to belong, and if the churches of such denomination have more than one method of choosing trustees, by which of such methods the trustees are to be chosen, the number of such trustees, the names of the persons to be the first trustees of the new corporation, and the date of its first annual corporate meeting. Such an agreement shall not be valid for United Methodist churches unless proposed by a majority vote of the charge conference of each church and approved by the superintendent or superintendents of the district or districts in which the consolidating churches are located, and by the majority of the members of each of such churches, over the age of twenty-one years, present and voting at a meeting thereof held in the usual place of public worship and called for the purpose of considering such agreement by announcement made at public service in such churches on two Sundays, the first not less than ten days next preceding the date of such meeting. Such agreement shall not be valid unless approved in the case of Protestant Episcopal churches by the bishop and standing committee of the diocese in which such churches are situated and in the case of churches of other denominations by the governing body of the denomination, if any, to which each church belongs, having jurisdiction over such church. Each corporation shall thereupon make a separate petition to the supreme court for an order consolidating or merging the corporations, setting forth the denomination, if any, to which the church belongs, that the consent of the governing body to the consolidation or merger, if any, of that denomination having jurisdiction over such church has been obtained, the agreement therefor, and a statement of all the property and liabilities and the amount and sources of the annual income of such petitioning corporation. In its discretion the court may direct that notice of the hearing of such petition be given to the parties interested therein in such manner and for such time as it may prescribe. After hearing all the parties interested, present and desiring to be heard, the court may make an order for the consolidation or merger of the corporations on the terms of such agreement and such other terms and conditions as it may prescribe, specifying the name of such new or surviving corporation and the trustees thereof, and the method by which their successors shall be chosen and the date of its first or next annual corporate meeting. When such order is made and duly entered, the persons constituting such consolidated or merged corporations shall be or become an incorporated church by, and said petitioning churches shall become consolidated or merged under, the name designated in the order, and the trustees therein named shall be the trustees thereof, and the future trustees thereof shall be chosen by the method therein designated, and all the estate, rights, powers and property of whatsoever nature belonging to either corporation shall without further act or deed be vested in and transferred to the new or surviving corporation as effectually as they were vested in or belonging to the former corporations; and the said new or surviving corporation shall be liable for all the debts and liabilities of the former corporations in the same manner and as effectually as if said debts or liabilities had been contracted or incurred by the new or surviving corporation. A certified copy of such order shall be recorded in the book for recording certificates of incorporation in each county clerk’s office in which the certificate of incorporation of each consolidating or merging church was recorded; or if no such certificate was so recorded, then in the clerk’s office of the county in which the principal place of worship or principal office of the new or surviving corporation is, or is intended to be, situated.

Source: Section 13 — Consolidation or merger of incorporated churches, https://www.­nysenate.­gov/legislation/laws/RCO/13 (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Nov. 1, 2025).

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–B
Any investment of the funds of any religious corporation heretofore made by the trustees thereof shall not be deemed to have been restric... 6
Acquisition of property by religious corporations for branch institutions 7
Acquisition of property by religious corporations for cemetery purposes 7–A
Deeds for cemetery purposes 8
Lot owners’ rights 8–A
Reacquisition of a lot, plot or part thereof by a cemetery 9
Removal of human remains from one cemetery of a religious corporation to another cemetery owned by it 10
Acquisition of property by two or more religious corporations for a common parsonage 11
Correction and confirmation of conveyances to religious corporations 12
Sale, mortgage and lease of real property of religious corporations 13
Consolidation or merger of incorporated churches 14
Judicial investigation of amount of property of religious corporations 15
Corporations with governing authority over, or advisory relations with, churches or synods, or both 15–A
Consolidation of incorporated presbyteries 15–B
Consolidation or merger of incorporated Presbyterian and Lutheran synods 16
Property of extinct churches 17
Property of extinct Free Baptist churches 17–A
Property of extinct Seventh Day Baptist churches and Seventh Day Baptist religious societies 17–B
Property of extinct Presbyterian churches in connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U 17–C
Property of Lutheran congregations 18
Dissolution of religious corporations 19
Corporations for organizing and maintaining mission churches and Sunday schools 20
Corporations for acquiring parsonages for district superintendents and camp-meeting grounds 21
Corporations for acquiring camp-meeting grounds for the Reformed Methodist denomination 21–A
Corporations for acquiring lands for parsonage or camp-meeting purposes for the Free Methodist denomination 22
Establishing and maintaining a home for aged poor 23
Powers of churches created by special laws 24
Government of churches incorporated prior to January first, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight 25
Pastoral relation 26
Worship 27
Reservation as to Baptist churches, churches of the United Church of Christ and Congregational Christian churches 28
Electronic meetings
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Verified:
Nov. 1, 2025

Last modified:
Sep. 22, 2014

§ 13. Consolidation or merger of incorporated churches's source at nysenate​.gov

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