How to Find Articles of Incorporation in Illinois
The Illinois Secretary of State's office maintains records of Illinois' corporations, limited liability companies (LLC), partnerships, limited liability partnerships and not-for-profit corporations. The office offers an online service to find all public information about registered Illinois companies and corporations, including articles of incorporation, statements of good standing, tax records and information on registered agents. The website operated by the Secretary of State's office is easy to use and for a cost, you can print the information you are seeking directly from the site.
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Instructions
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Gather as much information as you can about the company. You will be able to search the database using a keyword or a partial name, but having the exact name of the corporation will help you in case you are looking for a company with a common name or a common form of business such as "caterer" or "physician's group." If you have the file name of the company from its incorporation, you can also use this to search.
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Go to the Illinois Secretary of State's office website. From the list on the left side of the home page, click on "Business Services UCC Online Filings. This will take you to the Business Services page. From the list of links in the middle column, click on 'Corporate/LLC Search / Certificate of Good Standing" in the middle of the list. Click on the first link after the first paragraph "Search the Real Time Corporate/LLC Database / Certificate of Good Standing." This takes you to the page where you will do your search.
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Perform your search based on the three steps. The first step asks you to chose between Corporate and LLC, Corporate, or LLC. If you are unsure, you can do multiple searches using each of the three designations to find the information you seek. In the second step, you will choose how to do your search: by name, by key word, by partial word or by file number. The third step asks you to type in the information you have (key word, file number, etc.). If the company is or ever was registered in the state of Illinois it will appear after you hit "Search"
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Click on the name of the company. The corporation file detail report information will appear. At the bottom of the information is a link that says Purchase Certificate of Good Standing. Click on it to get the certificate. You will be allowed one certificate per transaction.
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Fill out the order form including your credit card number. After you pay your fee, you will be able to print out a copy of the ceritficate.
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References
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