The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
003
:
BAPTIST CHURCH
(Cite as: 27 V.S.A. § 783)
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§ 783. Procedure for transferring property
An application for such an order and disposition of property may be made by any member
of the Vermont Baptist State Convention when duly authorized by the board of trustees
or the executive committee of the board of trustees of the Vermont Baptist State Convention,
or by any member of such church, upon a verified complaint setting forth the facts
authorizing the order and disposition of property. Upon the presentation of the complaint
to the Superior Court, the court may proceed in a summary manner, after such notice
as the court may prescribe, to inquire into the merits of the application. If upon
examination by the court it appears that the making of the order and disposition of
the property applied for is necessary or proper for any of the causes mentioned in
section 782 of this title, the court shall make a final order declaring the church extinct, or dissolving the
same, and transferring any property, and the title and possession which may belong
to the church, or held in trust for the church, and vest the same in the Vermont Baptist
State Convention, it being the intention and purpose of this section and sections
781 and 782 of this title to preserve to the Baptist denomination in this State, as represented by the Vermont
Baptist State Convention, for religious uses all property owned by or held in trust
for any such church. The order of transfer shall not be made if objected to by five
or more members of the church. This section and sections 781 and 782 of this title shall not affect reversionary interests of any person or persons in the property
or any valid legal liens of creditors. (Amended 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974; 2023, No. 6, § 346, eff. July 1, 2023.)