Whenever the laws, rules, or ecclesiastic polity of an unincorporated church or religious body provide for it to create a corporation to hold, administer, and manage its real and personal property, such corporation shall have the power to (i) acquire by deed, devise, gift, purchase, or otherwise, any real or personal property for any purpose authorized and permitted by the laws, rules, or ecclesiastic polity of the church or body, and not prohibited by the law of the Commonwealth and (ii) hold, improve, mortgage, sell, and convey the same in accordance with such law, rules, and ecclesiastic polity, and in accordance with the law of the Commonwealth.
Va. Code Ann. § 57-16.1
Property of unincorporated church held by corporation
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case 76 Va. Cir. 1 - In re Multi-Circuit Episcopal Church Property Litigation (2008)
Most recently applied in In re Multi-Circuit Episcopal Church Property Litigation (January 2012)
2005, cc. 772, 928.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.