N.Y. Religious Corporations Law Section 18
Dissolution of religious corporations

Whenever any religious corporation shall cease to act in its corporate capacity and keep up the religious services; it shall be lawful for the supreme court of this state, upon the application of a majority of the trustees thereof, in case said court shall deem it proper so to do, to order and decree a dissolution of such religious corporation, and for that purpose to order and direct a sale and conveyance of any and all property belonging to such corporation, and after providing for the ascertaining and payment of the debts of such corporation, and the necessary costs and expenses of such sale and proceedings for dissolution, so far as the proceeds of such sale shall be sufficient to pay the same; such court may order and direct any surplus of such proceeds remaining after paying such debts, costs and expenses, to be devoted and applied to any such religious, benevolent, or charitable objects or purposes as the said trustees may indicate by their petition and the said court may approve. Such application to said court shall be made by petition, duly verified by said trustees, which petition shall state the particular reason or causes why such sale and dissolution are sought; the situation, condition and estimated value of the property of said corporation, and the particular object or purposes to which it is proposed to devote any surplus of the proceeds of such property; and such petition shall, in all cases, be accompanied with proof that notice of the time and place of such intended application to said court, has been duly published once in each week for at least four weeks successively, next preceding such application, in a newspaper published in the county where such corporation is located. In case there shall be no trustees of such religious corporation residing in the county in which such corporation is located, such application may be made, and such proceedings taken, by a majority of the members of such religious corporation residing in such county. In case such corporation is under the jurisdiction of an incorporated ecclesiastical governing body such application may be made and such proceedings taken by such incorporated ecclesiastical governing body, provided the trustees or other officers or surviving members of the local church shall refuse to act after request has been duly made by the governing body, and in such case the proceeds shall be turned over to said governing body.

Source: Section 18 — Dissolution of religious corporations, https://www.­nysenate.­gov/legislation/laws/RCO/18 (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Jun. 9, 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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Accessed:
Jun. 9, 2025

Last modified:
Sep. 22, 2014

§ 18’s source at nysenate​.gov

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