In its broadest sense, a fiduciary duty is an obligation owed by a person in a leadership or management role within an organization to the organization itself and its members. A director or [...]
Social media offers many benefits to churches and nonprofits, including the ability to more easily advance an organization’s mission by directly engaging supporters online. This has never been [...]
For federal income tax purposes most churches qualify for exemption from tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Political speech by 501(c)(3) organizations can be divided into [...]
On July 24, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Nevada church’s request for an exemption from state orders that limit the size of worship services. The church claimed the state’s COVID-19 [...]
In a major decision handed down on June 30, 2020, in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the scope of religious liberty by requiring the state of Montana [...]
There are a number of legal defenses that churches can raise if a civil lawsuit is filed against them. These defenses include (1) negative defenses, where a claim can be defeated by disproving [...]
Child abuse in all its forms — physical, sexual, or mental abuse or neglect — is a crime in California, with additional criminal penalties if a victim is a minor (18 and younger) at [...]
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the consolidated case of Our Lady of Guadalupe School Morrissey-Berru St. James School v. Biel clarified and broadened the “ministerial exception” that [...]
On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act barring sex discrimination in the workplace also protects LGBTQ employees [...]
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, churches in California have once again been prohibited from holding indoor services. Some churches have openly defied this latest order by continuing to [...]