St. Martin de Porres' TRUSTEES

Jim C. Bailes, Mary Jane Stockstill and Richard Yep

Trustees of a Virginia Episcopal church are governed by a combination of Virginia law and the Diocesan canons.

The excerpt from the Diocesan canons: "Canon 151 says that vestry of a Church shall elect trustees for appointment by the local Circuit Court to hold title to the property of the Church "

The excerpt from the Code of Virginia: "Sec. 57-8 of the Virginia Code provides the process of having trustees appointed. "

Under Virginia law, trustees of a church do basically two things: 1) hold title to property (in trust for the Church, the Diocese and The Episcopal Church) and 2) be the agents of the church to be served with court papers if someone sues the church. Both functions provide public representatives of the church, but the functions are subject to the Diocesan Canons.

Although a trustee's name may be on a deed, the trustee does not own the property individually, but as a trustee for the church, the Diocese and The Episcopal Church (Canon 15.1).

In an Episcopal Church the sale or encumbrance of church property follows the provisions of Canons 14 and 15 and is based on approval by the congregation, vestry, bishop, and Standing Committee, as appropriate. If a decision is made under the Canonica! procedures, the trustees are then directed to sign a deed, mortgage, etc. and if they decline to do so, Sec. 57-13 provides that the church can compel them to take the action. Likewise, if the trustees are served with a lawsuit, the lawsuit is against the church and they turn it over to the church to handle. In sum, the trustees are not decision-makers, they cannot make a decision to buy or sell property; they are simply public agents for the church.

Most churches select persons to serve as their trustees who are long-term, responsible members of the church (and are unlikely to be moving away or leaving the church in the near future).

The trustees do not necessarily need to be current or former vestry members and are typically lay people. They should also probably be people who have some legal or business background so that they can be relied upon to turn over lawsuit papers to the church, sign deeds, etc. The objective should be to have trustees who can serve long-term, be responsive if and when they need to sign a deed or mortgage and promptly turn over lawsuit papers to the appropriate people at the church.