The state Supreme Judicial Court has issued a rule allowing for the modification of restrictions on small funds where the restriction has become unlawful, impracticable, impossible to achieve or wasteful, according to Andrew Gustafson, Associate Conference Minister for Stewardship and Financial Devlopment. The restrictions may be modified administratively with the consent of the Massachusetts Attorney General.

"This will be particularly helpful for churches with small, permanently restricted funds which are impractical to manage given the small amount of income derived therefrom," Gustafson said.

This rule applies to funds that have been in existence for twenty (20) years or longer and have a total value of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) or less as of the end of the last fiscal year.

For more information and forms, visit the Attorney General’s website, http://www.mass.gov/.

Gustafson can be reached at gustafsona@macucc.org.