Go Legal Yourself!, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 2What Other Documents Do I Need?

Starting a business can be overwhelming, and not knowing what you need is even worse. Filing a name for your entity with the state can be the easy part; running your business like a business is the hard part. I am frequently contacted by business owners who have just filed their name with a state and don't know what other documents are required for their startup. The incorporation process requires more than the initial filing of the Articles of Incorporation, also referred to Certificate of Incorporation or Articles of Organization, which are a set of formal documents filed with a government body to legally document the creation of an incorporated entity.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the law regards a corporation as a legal entity that is separate and distinct from its owners. Corporations have the right to enter into contracts, loan and borrow money, sue and be sued, own and sell property, hire employees, own assets and pay taxes, and sell the rights of ownership in the form of stocks. The only way to treat your corporation as a legal entity that is separate and distinct from you as an individual is to have a number of legal documents that make up the internal governing rules of your business, creating the separate and distinct function.

The following documents are required of an incorporated entity, which show the separate existence of the entity and further solidify the need for limited liability protection:

• For a Corporation ...