§ 23-17-216 — Membership fees and capital credits

(a) When a member of a cooperative has paid the membership fee in full, a certificate of membership shall be issued to the member. (b) Memberships in the cooperative and the certificates thereof shall be nontransferable and nonassignable. (c) Membership may be cancelled upon the resignation, expulsion, dissolution, change in ownership, or death of the member or by the death or divorce of either party to a joint membership, if joint memberships are provided for in the bylaws. (d) The membership fee shall not be refunded. (e) Cooperatives shall not pay capital credits to a member, former member, patron, or former patron while the cooperative has outstanding and unpaid obligations in excess of ten percent (10%) of its net assets. The board of directors in its discretion may authorize payment of any capital credits allocated to deceased former members or patrons as provided in the bylaws. If the outstanding and unpaid obligations of the cooperative are less than ten percent (10%) of the cooperative's net assets based upon the cooperative's consolidated balance sheet as of the close of the cooperative's most recently audited fiscal year, the board shall have the discretion to pay previously allocated capital credits in any amount or manner the board deems appropriate.

Legislative History

Acts 1951, No. 51, § 18; A.S.A. 1947, § 77-1618; Acts 1989, No. 437, § 10; 1999, No. 946, § 4; 2007, No. 1579, § 1.