NY Rel Corps L § 13 (2021)
2021 New York Laws RCO - Religious Corporations Article 2 - General Provisions 13 - Consolidation or Merger of Incorporated Churches.

§  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.