Remember: Almost all property matters are governed by state law. An attorney familiar with your state’s property law should be used.

• The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Its Property
• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Property Trust Clause (G-8.0201)
• Absence of Trust Clause
• Property Used Contrary to the Constitution, Church in Schism, Church Dissolved
• Resources
  • Church Property Cases in Your State or Jurisdiction
  • Funds and Assistance for Church Property Litigation
  • Selling, Encumbering, and Leasing Church Property
• Information About Property Generally and Church Property
• Special Issues with the Leasing of Church Property
• Conveyances of Property
  • Items of Concern When Property Is Being Conveyed
  • Contracts for Sale
    • Purchase of Real Property
    • Zoning
    • Option Agreements
  • Deeds
    • Adverse Possession
    • Recording
    • Ensuring Good Title
    • Mortgages and Deeds of Trust
    • Releases
    • Mechanic's Liens
    • Surveys
  • Property Used by Two Denominations
  • Historic Landmarking of Church Property
• Loan Programs Offered by General Assembly Office
  • Church Loan Program
  • Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Investment and Loan Program, Inc.
• Property of a Dissolved or Extinct Church
• Sample Form for the Property of a Dissolved Church
• Advisory Opinion Note #11: Church Property

• Support of the property trust and other provisions of the PC(USA) Constitution.
• Support the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s right of autonomy protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, to govern itself and order its life and activity free of government intervention (God Alone Is Lord of the Conscience, Minutes, 1988, Part I, p. 555).
• Support a presbytery that determines to resist efforts by a local congregation attempting to withdraw from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and to take church-owned or church-controlled property with it (Book of Order, G-8.0200).
• Assist in protecting the property rights of congregations, institutions, or organizations to use their property in conformity with The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
• Such financial and technical support shall be made at such level (administrative or within trial or appellate courts) as the Stated Clerk shall determine.
• The Stated Clerk is authorized to share up to 50 percent of the direct legal costs, that is, the hours and costs of services and fees billed by attorneys or courts. The proportion may be negotiated downward if insurance or contribution from other sources is available. To assist the Office of the General Assembly in responsible management of this fund, the presbytery is asked to provide a copy of the itemized statement of the attorney and a short report of the progress of the matter quarterly.
• Such financial support of the presbytery for professional legal expenses incurred in connection with such proceedings as described above shall be negotiated in each case, but accepting as a general guide the participation by the Office of the General Assembly in an amount up to 50 percent of such expenses not covered by other sources available to the presbytery. Such expenditures shall be entirely under the discretion of the Stated Clerk, and no governing body shall have any right to have such funds expended on its behalf.
• The presbytery should provide a letter certifying its request for assistance in a certain matter, the name of the officer or staff person with whom the Stated Clerk or assigned staff is to correspond, and a description of any other funds that may be available for legal expenses.
• As the matter proceeds, the presbytery’s contact person is expected to keep the Stated Clerk informed and invite consultation regarding strategy, provide information needed for consultation to be effective, and copies of all papers filed with a court in the matter by any of the parties.
• The Stated Clerk will consult as needed with the General Counsel of the PC(USA) and may ask for an opportunity to speak with the presbytery legal counsel but will relate primarily with the presbytery’s designated contact person.
• Note that the policy adopted by the General Assembly is permissive and funding may be limited by the amount budgeted in a given year. The Stated Clerk could advise a presbytery that in a certain matter the presbytery ought to settle a case or withdraw, and then decline to participate further.

• A particular church shall not sell, mortgage, or encumber its real estate without the permission of presbytery. G-8.0501.
• A particular church shall not lease its real estate used for worship or enter into a lease for more than five years on its other real estate without the permission of presbytery. G-8.0502.

Section G-8.0500 Selling, Encumbering, or Leasing Church Property, and Section G-8.0700 Exceptions, are the only sections in the present Chapter 8 not included in the new Chapter 6 Church Property adopted in 1982 by the Presbyterian Church in the United States. With those exceptions, all of the churches in both former denominations entered the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1983 with the same constitutional provisions for holding, using, and disposing of church property.

The purpose of the requirement that presbytery approve selling, mortgaging, or leasing church property is to enable the presbytery to participate in planning an affordable project for the use of its property and to avoid legal pitfalls. The rules were adopted in 1935, 1941, and 1946 at a time when many churches were facing financial difficulties and have enabled presbyteries to provide assistance that often the congregation was unaware presbytery could offer.

Exceptions

Section G-8.0700, Exceptions, provided a window of opportunity for eight years after June 1983 during which congregations of the former Presbyterian Church in the United States might vote to excuse themselves from that provision of the chapter by which they had not been bound before reunion. Once this exception has been properly adopted and the presbytery notified it is legally binding and runs as long as the congregation or its legal successors exist, or until the congregation votes to accept section G-8.0500. For this reason, to avoid future disputes, it is important that the session of an exempt congregation hold the record of this action with the deeds and other property records, and that presbyteries that have received notice of such actions also hold the record where it will be available when needed.