N.Y. Religious Corporations Law Section 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 discipline, rules and usages of the corporation and of the ecclesiastical governing body, if any, to which the corporation is subject, and with the provisions of law relating thereto, for the support and maintenance of the corporation, or, providing the members of the corporation at a meeting thereof shall so authorize, of some religious, charitable, benevolent or educational object conducted by said corporation or in connection with it, or with the denomination, if any, with which it is connected; and they shall not use such property or revenues for any other purpose or divert the same from such uses. They may transfer all or any part of the real or personal estate of such corporation to such bank, trust company, savings bank or savings and loan association organized or existing under the laws of the state of New York, or to a national banking association, federal savings bank or federal savings and loan association having a principal, branch or trust office located in the state of New York as may be designated by them or to a holding company, organized under the laws of the state of New York, of the same religious denomination, such property to be held in trust or in safekeeping or custody, to collect the income thereof and pay over the same to the trustees of such religious corporation at such times and in such manner as shall be agreed upon, and they may also, in their discretion, delegate and grant to the trustee or custodian designated by them all or any portion of the powers, responsibilities and discretionary authority possessed by them with respect to the retention and the investment and reinvestment of such property or any part thereof, and may from time to time modify such powers delegated by them or designate successor or different trustees or custodians within the limits and subject to the regulations and restrictions contained in this section. The trustees of an incorporated Roman Catholic Church, or of a Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, shall not transfer any property as herein provided without the consent of the archbishop or bishop of the diocese to which such church belongs or in case of their absence or inability to act, without the consent of the vicar general or administrator of such diocese. By-laws may be adopted or amended, by a two-thirds vote of the qualified voters present and voting at the meeting for incorporation or at any subsequent meeting, after written notice, embodying such by-laws or amendment, has been openly given at a previous meeting, and also in the notices of the meeting at which such proposed by-laws or amendment is to be acted upon. By-laws thus adopted or amended shall control the action of the trustees. But this section does not give to the trustees of an incorporated church, any control over the calling, settlement, dismissal or removal of its minister, or the fixing of his salary; or any power to fix or change the times, nature or order of the public or social worship of such church.

Source: Section 5 — General powers and duties of trustees of religious corporations, https://www.­nysenate.­gov/legislation/laws/RCO/5 (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

§ 5. Gen. powers & duties of trustees of religious corporations's source at nysenate​.gov

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