                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

HOW PROPERTY RIGHTS DETERMINED ON DIVISION OF CHURCH OR SOCIETY (§ 57-9)

A. If a division has heretofore occurred or shall hereafter occur in a church or
religious society, to which any such congregation whose property is held by
trustees is attached, the members of such congregation over 18 years of age may,
by a vote of a majority of the whole number, determine to which branch of the
church or society such congregation shall thereafter belong. Such determination
shall be reported to the circuit court of the county or city, wherein the
property held in trust for such congregation or the greater part thereof is; and
if the determination be approved by the court, it shall be so entered in the
court&#8217;s civil order book, and shall be conclusive as to the title to and
control of any property held in trust for such congregation, and be respected
and enforced accordingly in all of the courts of the Commonwealth.

B. If a division has heretofore occurred or shall hereafter occur in a
congregation whose property is held by trustees which, in its organization and
government, is a church or society entirely independent of any other church or
general society, a majority of the members of such congregation, entitled to
vote by its constitution as existing at the time of the division, or where it
has no written constitution, entitled to vote by its ordinary practice or
custom, may decide the right, title, and control of all property held in trust
for such congregation. Their decision shall be reported to such court, and if
approved by it, shall be so entered as aforesaid, and shall be final as to such
right of property so held.

HISTORY: Code 1919, § 40; 1972, c. 825; 2005, cc. 681, 772.