Certified Copies of Corporate Documents

You may request a Certified Copy of any documents filed with the Secretary of State, such as:

• Certificate of Formation*
• Certificate of Incorporation*
• Certificate of Amendment
• Annual Report
• Certificate of Authority
• Certificate of Dissolution
• Certificate of Cancellation
• Change of Agent
• Certificate of Conversion
• Certificate of Merger

*The state of Delaware utilizes the terms Certificate of Formation and Certificate of Incorporation; however, these are considered the same document as Articles of Organization and Articles of Incorporation, as they may be called in other states.

There are several reasons you might require a Certified Copy of one or more of your Delaware company’s documents, such as:

• You want to open a business bank account
• You want to apply for a loan
• You wish to meet with potential investors
• You need to prove your legal standing ahead of a merger or acquisition
• You apply for Foreign Qualification in states such as Arizona, Illinois, Nevada or Virginia
• You have lost your original copies
• You would like back-up copies

When ordering a Certified Copy, you are ordering the certification of the original corporate document on file with the state. Any changes filed with Delaware after that particular filing would not be reflected in these documents.

Certified copies are generally valid within a certain timeframe (e.g., within 60 or 90 days of the request) to ensure that the information is current.

For example, if your company filed a name change and then ordered a Certified Copy of the Certificate of Formation, the Certificate of Formation would include the original name, not the updated name. You could then order a Certified Copy of the Certificate of Amendment to show the updated name, if necessary.

Since the cost to acquire a Certified Copy varies from document to document (and sometime even by the number of pages), contact our office and list the Delaware corporate documents you'd like to put in order to get a quote.

A Certified Copy is not the same as a Certificate of Good Standing. A Certificate of Good Standing declares that your company is in good standing with the state as of a specific date, meaning it is in full compliance and has paid its annual Franchise Tax Fee.

These documents are crucial for situations involving legal verification, business expansion, financing, and several other corporate transactions. If you would like to order a Certified Copy of any of your Delaware company’s documents or have questions about the process, please contact us.