How to Look Up Articles of Incorporation
When you are running a business, you want to know information about the other companies with which you operate. Looking up the articles of incorporation on those other companies is one way to do that. The articles of incorporation will tell you the initial owners of the company, how long it's been in business and the original address of the organization. In order to look up such information, you need to know in which state the company was originally incorporated and the official name of the company.
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Instructions
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Find out the official information about the company you need to look up. You likely will need the official name of the company and the state in which it was incorporated. Having the name of one of its principals can also help.
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Go to the Secretary of State website for the state in which the company was incorporated. Click on Business Filings or a similar button. It typically is displayed prominently on the Secretary of State website.
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Click on Search Filings. If the business you are looking up was incorporated in Ohio, for example, the Ohio Secretary of State's Office website then allows you to search for articles of incorporation based on whether you have the business name, the business's charter or registration number or the name of one of its principals. Choose which option you'd like to use for your search.
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Type in the information you have about the business in the form and click Submit. If you are searching for a business name in Ohio, you type in the name of the business next to where the website reads Business Name.
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Look for the business you are searching for the articles of incorporation on listed in the search results. Click on Business Filing Information and then the document ID number that comes up. The business's articles of incorporation instantly appear on your screen for you to save or print out.
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