Articles of Organization: Necessary LLC Documents?

Answer 1

Similar to the articles of incorporation that are required in order to found a corporation, articles of organization are the key document that one must submit to the state or to another governing body in order to establish a limited liability company. This is generally the final piece that is required after the process of creating the business, cementing the key details and principles of the company.

Depending on the nature of the company, articles of organization might be hundreds of pages long that lapses into legalese with regard to every single facet of a complex business, or it may just be a few short pages. The details documented in articles of organization will generally include the officers that are to be named, the headquarters of the business, what the limited liability company is intended to accomplish -- such as whether it is non-profit of the sphere of business -- and the primary rules that are required to dictate the workings and organization within the company.

The actual creation of these documents can be difficult, and an attorney is necessary for all but the shortest and simplest and structures. There are some books that can help with the steps, such as the Nolo series, but even with the assistance of these aids, it is often one's strongest asset to have a lawyer to review the work.

After filing the articles of organization and after the state accepts them, the company is then transformed into a limited liability company, which is usually denoted by having the exact words "Limited Liability Company" or the abbreviation "LLC" attached to the end of the company name.

As the name suggests, articles of organization generally document the amount of articles which delineate the organization and methodologies of the limited liability company, which are laid out in a generally standard format, such as the following:

ARTICLE I: Nature of Business -- describing the business and its purpose ARTICLE II: Name -- the business' name ARTICLE III: Term -- how long the company will be established, usually indefinitely

Stock dealings, bonus caps, salary and other similar broad information may also be documented and established within the articles of organization. For other small details, the company may use its own bylaws to define, though some companies may want to elect to outline the basic bylaw information in these documents.