West Virginia Code
Article 1. Religious Organizations
§35-1-9. Power of Trustee to Sell, Convey and Encumber Property

The trustee or trustees of any church, religious sect, society, or denomination within this state, whenever directed by the ecclesiastical officer or the delegated or select body to whom the authority to administer the affairs of such church, religious sect, society, or denomination is committed by its rules and ecclesiastical polity, or the trustee or trustees of any individual church, parish, congregation or branch of any religious sect, society or denomination within this state, whenever directed by a majority of the members of such individual church, parish, congregation or branch who are over eighteen years of age, or by the ecclesiastical officer or the delegated or select body to whom the authority to administer the affairs of such church, parish, congregation or branch is committed by the rules and ecclesiastical polity of such church, religious sect, society or denomination, may sell and convey any property, real or personal owned by such church, religious sect, society or denomination, or by such individual church, parish, congregation or branch, as the case may be, or upon like direction, may borrow money and execute a lien upon the church property to secure the payment thereof; and all conveyances so made, or liens so executed, by the persons who appear from the records in the office of the county clerk to be the trustee or trustees of the religious body making such conveyances or executing such liens, shall be effective to pass from such trustee or trustees such title or interest in the property under his or their control as is purported to be conveyed or passed by such conveyances or instruments of lien, and shall not be invalidated or affected by any defect or informality in the proceedings for the selection or appointment of such person or persons as trustee or trustees, or by any want of authority or lack of power in such trustee or trustees.

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