Articles of amendment, state by state.
Your formation document is a public record of a short list of facts about your company. When one of those facts stops being true, the record has to catch up, and the filing that does it is the amendment. What counts as an amendable change, which office keeps the record, and how the filing runs are all set by the state you formed in. Pick yours.
Four things that depend on your state.
An amendment is a small filing with a lot of state-level variation behind it. These four decide what you file, where it goes, and whether you need an amendment at all.
When an amendment is required
Every state page in this section opens with the same question: when you actually need one. The list of changes that require a filing is drawn up state by state, which is why each page answers that question for its own state rather than assuming a national rule.
LLC and corporation paths
Both amend the document that formed them, and both file with the same office. Each entity type has its own form, so the LLC route and the corporation route look similar from a distance and different on the page. Your state page covers the one that applies to you.
Where the record lives
In most states the company record sits with the Secretary of State. Some states keep the same record under a Department of State or a Division of Corporations. It is the same job under a different name, and it decides where the amendment goes.
How the filing runs
The steps are not identical everywhere: what the form asks for, what has to travel with it, and how the office handles it once it lands. Each state page sets out the sequence for that state instead of describing a generic one.
The company is the same after the filing. Only the record changes.
Pick your state.
Every state page covers amendments for that state: when one is required, which office keeps the record, what the filing asks for, and how the process runs there. Fifty states and the District of Columbia, one page each.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
You tell us what changed and where the company is registered. We prepare the amendment for that state, file it with the office that holds your record, and confirm when it is on file.
Confirm what changed
Start with the change itself: the fact on the record that is no longer accurate. That decides whether an amendment is the right filing in your state, and which form carries it.
Draft the amendment
We complete the state's form against your current record and the change you are making, so the amended document reads correctly next to what is already on file.
File with the state
The amendment goes to the office that keeps your formation record. Processing is the state's clock, not ours, and it differs from one filing office to the next.
Update your own records
Once the amendment is on the public record, the copy you hold should match it. Keep the filed document with your formation papers so the two read as one history.
Four steps, one filing. Pick your state to start.
The rest of Secretary of State directory.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
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Certificate of Good Standing, state by state
All 51 states → HubEntity conversion
Entity conversion, state by state
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Secretary of State DBA, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State dissolution
Secretary of State dissolution, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Secretary of State directory.
The questions people ask before they file.
What are articles of amendment?
An amendment is the filing that changes a fact recorded in your formation document. The company carries on as the same legal entity; what changes is the public record of it. Both LLCs and corporations use the filing, each with its own form, and it goes to the state office that holds the original document. The name of the form and the process behind it are set by that state.
When do I need to file one?
That question is answered state by state, which is why every page in this section opens with it. Broadly, an amendment is what you file when a fact recorded in your formation document is no longer accurate. Whether a particular change calls for an amendment, or is handled by some other filing, depends on the state that holds your record. Your state page sets out the list for that state.
Does an amendment create a new company?
No. The entity continues, with its formation date and its filing history intact. An amendment edits the existing record rather than replacing it, which is the point of filing one instead of starting over. It is also why the amendment goes to the same office that holds the original document, and why the two are read together afterwards as a single record.
Do LLCs and corporations file the same form?
They file the same kind of document with the same office, but not on the same form. An LLC amends the document that formed the LLC; a corporation amends the document that formed the corporation. The state publishes a version for each. Your state page covers the one that applies to your entity type, along with what that state's form asks for.
Which office receives the amendment?
The one that holds your formation record. In most states that is the Secretary of State. Some states keep company records under a Department of State or a Division of Corporations instead. The office does the same job under any of those names, and your state page names the one that applies to you before you start the filing.
How long does an amendment take?
Processing belongs to the state, not to us. Each filing office runs its own queue and its own timetable, and they are not the same from one state to the next. We prepare and submit the filing; what happens after that is the office's clock. Your state page covers the process for that state, so the sequence is visible before you commit to it.
Keep going, in order.
Secretary of State directory
Every hub in secretary of state directory, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
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