§ 126.011.Record

A registration provision, and it is what the receivership section sends the court to consult.

On receipt of $2.50, the secretary of state shall record the names of all trustees appointed by any state organization of a religious congregation in this state.

The fee has not been revised since the provision was written, which is itself a fair indication of the provision’s age.

The record is of trustees appointed by a state organization, so it captures the denominational structure rather than each local congregation’s own officers.

The appointment must be duly authenticated by an officer authorized to acknowledge deeds in this state.

That points to the acknowledgments chapter, and it applies the same formality to a trustee appointment that a deed requires — sensible, because trustees hold the congregation’s land.

The secretary of state shall keep the record in a well-bound book in the secretary of state’s office.

The bound-book requirement is the same technology the notarial register uses, and for the same reason: a permanent, unalterable, sequential record that outlasts whoever created it.

The register’s practical use appears in the receivership section, which requires the judge to obtain a certified copy before appointing a receiver — so a court can find who holds authority over a congregation that has stopped meeting.

Registration is voluntary in form. Nothing requires an organization to record its trustees, but one that does not leaves a court with no register to consult.