Certified Documents

Business owners would at least once in the lifetime of their business encounter circumstances where they may require a Certified Copy of their qualification documents or the incorporation documents (only if the company has been registered to conduct business).

Notwithstanding, it is comparatively natural to misplace or lose the important documents due to our busy lives. And in such a case, you can request for a Certified Copy of the original document to keep within your company records.

What are Certified Documents?

Certified documents or certified copies are the state-issued and exact copies of the original company documents. These documents often come with a title page that bears the Secretary of State’s signature or an official seal for an additional proof of their authenticity.

Moreover, having the certified documents in hand for your business is very important for a lot of business matters and deals. The documents can be requested by:

potential business investors or partners;
banks, for opening a business checking account;
lenders, when they are seeking funding; or
a state in case they have applied for foreign qualification in the state.

The certified copies of the documents that the business owners usually need are:

Articles of Incorporation/Organization
Corporate dissolution or liquidation forms
Certificates of Authority (evidence of foreign qualification)
Certificates of Formation
DBA/fictitious name filings
Articles of Amendment

Why would I need a certified copy?

A certified copy is issued by the state and is used for the following purposes:

Foreign Qualification. A certified document or a Certificate of Good Standing is normally needed for registering a business to conduct business ventures in another state.
Open a bank account. A Certified Document of the formation documents of your company is usually required for opening a business bank account.
Give extra proof of authenticity. A lot of the states in the US permit the fax and/or electronic filing of documents. And the approved documents from the state might not appear “as official” as they should be, even though they are original and official. And for this, using the certified document instead would basically serve as an additional proof of authenticity.
Replace a misplaced or lost original. It is crucial to have the original document of your company’s formation or any other documents that were issued by the state in your company records. But in case the originals get misplaced or lost, ensure that you request for the applicable certified documents to keep in place of the original, from the state of qualification or formation.

Difference Between Certified Document and a Certificate of Good Standing

A certified document is a copy of the document that has already been filed with the state, and states that it is correct and true, an example is the Articles of Incorporation. On the other hand, the Certificate of Good Standing indicates the state of a business as of a specific date. Hence, they must not be mixed up.

Key Benefits of the Certified Documents

You can request to get certified documents at any time that you want as there is no limit to when you can request it. It doesn’t matter if your company is new or has been incorporated for more than 20 years, you can always request for the Certified Documents of your business’ original documents.

How can IncParadise help you?

If you are searching for a certified copy for any document of your business, we can pull them out for you and save you the trouble of having to travel and deal directly with the Secretary of State. For further information, you can contact our professional team at incparadise.net