2013 New York Consolidated Laws
RCO - Religious Corporations
Article 2 - (3 - 27) GENERAL PROVISIONS
13 - Consolidation of incorporated churches.

 
    § 13. Consolidation of incorporated churches. Two or more incorporated
  churches  may  enter into an agreement, under their respective corporate
  seals, for the consolidation of such  corporations,  setting  forth  the
  name of the proposed new 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  the corporations, setting forth the denomination, if any,
  to which the church belongs, that the consent of the governing  body  to
  the consolidation, 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
  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
  corporation  and  the  first  trustees  thereof, and the method by which
  their successors shall be chosen  and  the  date  of  its  first  annual
  corporate meeting. When such order is made and duly entered, the persons
  constituting  such  corporations shall become an incorporated church by,
  and said petitioning churches shall become consolidated under, the  name
  designated  in  the  order,  and the trustees therein named shall be the
  first 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
  corporation  as  effectually  as they were vested in or belonging to the
  former corporations; and the said new 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 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 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
  corporation is, or is intended to be, situated.