Key point 6-07.02. Church board members may be personally liable for contracts they sign if they do so without authorization, or if they fail to indicate that they are signing as a representative of the church.
Church board members may be personally liable on contracts that they sign in either of two ways. First, a board member may be personally liable on a contract that he signs without authority. Second, a board member may be personally liable on a contract that he is authorized to sign but which he signs in his own name without any reference to the church or to his representational capacity. To prevent this inadvertent assumption of liability, board members who are authorized to sign contracts (as well as any other legal document) should be careful to indicate the church’s name on the document and clearly indicate their own representational capacity (agent, director, trustee, officer, etc.).