§ 31E-1-125 — Filing duty of Secretary of State

(a) If a document delivered to the office of the Secretary of State for filing satisfies the requirements of section one hundred twenty of this article, the Secretary of State shall file it.

(b) The Secretary of State files a document by recording it as filed on the date and time of receipt, unless a delayed effective time is specified in the document. After filing a document, except as provided in section five hundred three, article five of this chapter and section one thousand four hundred nine, article fourteen of this chapter, the Secretary of State shall deliver to the domestic or foreign corporation or its representative a receipt for the record and the fees. Upon request and payment of a fee, the Secretary of State shall send to the requester a certified copy of the requested record.

(c) If the Secretary of State refuses to file a document, he or she shall return it to the domestic or foreign corporation or its representative within five days after the document was delivered, together with a brief, written explanation of the reason for his or her refusal.

(d) The Secretary of State's duty to file documents under this section is ministerial. His or her filing or refusing to file a document does not:

(1) Affect the validity or invalidity of the document in whole or part;

(2) Relate to the correctness or incorrectness of information contained in the document; or

(3) Create a presumption that the document is valid or invalid or that information contained in the document is correct or incorrect.

Legislative History

2002 Reg. Sess., HB2899