Should We Authorize Preferred Shares when We Incorporate?
This post discusses whether founders should authorize preferred shares, in addition to common shares, when they incorporate.
As I discussed in What is Preferred Stock?, corporations typically issue preferred shares to institutional investors, such as venture capitalists (VCs). The term “preferred” refers to preferences that those shares have relative to common shares.
(more…)Board Members Aren’t Necessarily Equal in Delaware
People typically think about corporate board members having equal voting rights: One director, one vote. However, for Delaware corporations, that is not always the case.
Delaware Statute – Board Members
This unusual situation is the result of a Delaware statute. (more…)
Delaware Corporation Stockholders Can Waive Inspection Rights
Several years ago, I wrote about stockholder inspection rights. (See Which Financial Information Must a Corporation Provide to its Shareholders? ) This post explains how stockholders of a Delaware corporation can waive inspection rights.
Delaware General Corporation Law Section 220 gives stockholders a right to “inspect for any proper purpose, and to make copies and extracts from…[t]he corporation’s stock ledger, a list of its stockholders, and its other books and records”. Furthermore, “proper purpose” means “a purpose reasonably related to such person’s interest as a stockholder.” (more…)
How Does a Corporation Declare a Dividend?
This post discusses the process by which a corporation may declare a dividend. This is part of Dana Shultz’s Canonical Questions on the Law™ series of questions and answers about legal issues, concepts and terminology.
Please note that this post assumes that the corporation will pay a cash dividend to its shareholders. If, instead, the corporation wishes to pay a stock dividend (issue more shares to existing shareholders), then somewhat different rules will apply. (more…)
Delaware’s Franchise Tax – A Tale of Two Methods
In an earlier post, In Delaware, No Par Value Can Cost a Bundle, I discussed the two methods by which Delaware’s franchise tax for a corporation may be calculated. This post discusses the history of those two methods.
To some extent, this post is educated guesswork. It is based on a Quora question that I answered. Please see What is the rationale/reason (not math) behind the two methods of calculation for Delaware’s domestic franchise tax fee?
If You Incorporate in the U.S., You Can’t Remain Anonymous
Recently, two different individuals emailed me about their desire to form and run a legal entity while remaining anonymous.
I had to tell them that they could not achieve their objective. This post explains why that is the case.
Initial Formation is Easy
It is easy for a founder to be anonymous when taking the first step to form a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC). (more…)
What is a Corporation’s Incorporation Date?
This post explains how a state assigns a corporation’s incorporation date and how you can find the incorporation date for a given corporation. I first wrote about this in my answer to a Quora question. Please see What is the date of incorporation? Is it the date the articles of incorporation are adopted and signed, or when the state agency accepts them (USA)? (more…)
Can We Have a Corporate Incorporator?
Most of us think about an individual being the party that forms a corporation. As an alternative, this post discusses the corporate incorporator, i.e., a corporation that forms another corporation. (For information about incorporators generally, please see What Does an Incorporator Do? )
To start, I wondered whether various states’ statutes permit a corporate incorporator. (more…)
What Are My Entity’s Compliance Obligations?
Frequently, the first service I provide to a client is to form a new legal entity (corporation or limited liability company). And frequently, once that entity is formed, the client’s first question is “What are my entity’s compliance obligations?”
This post provides a high-level answer to that question.
(If you form a corporation in California, you can find additional information in the Postincorporation Matters document on the Downloads page – image above.) (more…)
Parent and Subsidiary – Who Owns What?
I am writing this post about parent and subsidiary ownership because of a question that I answered recently on Quora and a similar question that a prospective client posed to me. (Please see Can an LLC allocate ownership to individuals on a per investment basis (vs at the LLC level)?)
I always have thought that parent and subsidiary ownership were straightforward. However, that apparently is not the case for everyone. I will use an example to explain this concept. (I will refer to corporations. This discussion can apply equally to other types of entities, such as limited liability companies.) (more…)
