Articles of Organization

The Articles of Organization is basically the form you fill out to apply for a Florida Limited Liability Company (LLC).

This can be done by printing the form out and mailing it to the state or by filing electronically.

If you chose to file electronically then the process is very quick and only takes a few business days to be completed.

Article I

Article I asks for the name of the LLC.

Article II

Article II is for the address of the business and the mailing address. The two addresses can be different.

Article III

Article III asks for the register agents name and address. The main thing to note about this section is the address has to be a physical address, it can not be a PO box. A company can serve as the registered agent, but the LLC you are forming can not act as its own registered agent. However, a owner of your LLC can act as the registered agent for your company. The registered agent must sign this section, if you file electronically then an electronic signature will be accepted. See the section on Registered Agents for more information on what responsibilities the registered agent has.

Article IV

Article IV is where you list the Manager (MGR) or Managing Members (MGRM) of the company. A Managing Member is the owner(s) of the company. A Manager is just that, a manager has authority to do many things within the organization, but is not an owner. There can be multiple Managing Members/Owners.

Article V

Article V asks for the effective date of the LLC formation. The date of formation must be less than 5 days prior to the date you send the Articles of Organization, and also the date can not be past 90 days from when you send the Articles of Organization. The 2nd part of this section requires that an owner/managing member sign the form.

That is it, only 5 sections to the Articles of Organization! The information required varies slightly depending on whether you print out the application or if you file electronically – the 5 articles detailed above are from the printed application, but the electronic application is basically the same.