Registering a foreign corporation in Florida
Many states, Florida included, allow for a corporation formed in another state to incorporate in a new state. A corporation formed in another state is called a "foreign corporation." Foreign corporations that want to operate in Florida must comply with the relevant provisions in the Florida business laws. You will find the forms at sunbiz.org
Bud: Yes, Tom. We have recently moved here from Missouri. My wife and I. My wife is a public speaker. And in Missouri, we incorporated our bit of speaking business. It's an S corp.
Attorney Tom Olsen: All right.
Bud: We also incorporated a ministry which is a 501(c)(3) Not For Profit Corporation and I want to move the corporations from Missouri to Florida and I’ve researched it a little bit and it seems rather complicated. How do we go about that?
AttorneyTom Olsen : As far as I know, there's two choices. The easier choice for you would be to continue to have those Missouri corporations but register them as a foreign corporation here in the state of Florida. So they’ll always be Missouri but they're just registered to do business here in the state of Florida. The second choice would be for you to close down those Missouri corporations and open up two Florida corporations. I don't think that that's the best move for you, Bud.
Bud: Okay. When I researched it online, I came across something called domestication. Are you familiar with that?
Attorney Tom Olsen: Well, that's a kind of a broad term that's used in a lot of different areas of law but that may be very well what I’m talking about as far as domesticating your Missouri corporation here in Florida.
Bud: Yes. It's called, change of domicile.
Attorney Tom Olsen: And I can't swear that that's the right way, Bud. But I could can tell you this: there's a website called sunbiz.org. It's a state-run website where you can start your own corporation; start your own LLC. I do believe you can also register your foreign corporation at Sunbiz. I think it's sunbiz.org, but that's a good place to start. If you have some problem with it, call me in my office next week. We'll be happy to talk to you at 407-423-5561.