Small Business Attorney Orange County, Scams Corporate Minutes Solicitations Part 1

Written by: Andrew Gale - Orange County - Small Business Attorney

Business Attorney Orange County, Scams Corporate Minutes Solicitations Part 1 (A Processed Video Transcription)

 

Small Business Attorney Orange County, Scams Corporate Minutes Solicitations Part 1  

Good morning!  This is Atty. Andy Gale your small business attorney Orange County.  I just wanted to share with you an issue that’s come up with a number of our clients here recently and I want to make sure that you don’t get into the same problem that some of these other folks did.

The issue that’s coming up is that our corporate clients are receiving a number of solicitations that look something like this form, kind of an official state form.  I’ll try to put a picture of it up in this video so that you can get a better look at it.  This one’s entitled ‘2013 Annual Minutes Records Form’ and here’s another, kind of a different but same sort of form called ‘Notice of Corporate Compliance Requirements.’

The problem here is that these solicitations, though they look like the actual solicitation or form that you would need to satisfy certain state requirements here in California, have absolutely nothing to do with the state.  You can see how similar it is in format to the actual one that you do need to complete from the state called ‘The Statement of Information.’

These forms come in what appear to be official government envelopes, they have bar codes on them, and they have the boxes that would be filled out that look identical to the ones that are required by the state.  They start out giving you the normal state codes that state why you need to do some of this stuff.

For example, this one says California Corporation’s Code section 1500 corporate records each corporation shall keep adequate and correct books of corporate records and account and keep corporate minutes.  The form seems to suggest to you that if you complete this form you’ll have met those requirements.

In reality, that’s just not the case.  They give you the code and make you aware of the fact that there are state laws.  They require information from you that you think is going to a state agency but in fact, it’s going to some private organization.  Who knows what they’re going to do with the information.

They may be selling it to your competitors or to other people who are going to solicit your services.  But you think, well, for a small amount of money I’ll fill out the form and I think I’m in compliance.  What’s funny is that if you fill out this particular form, this one will cost you $125, that’s the big white one and that’s from an outfit called Corporate Records Service.  If you fill out this particular form, this one will cost you $149.  Finally, at the back here, they say, ‘Here’s our disclaimer.

Corporate Minutes Services is a private, non-government business providing corporate services to corporations.  CMS cannot and will not provide any legal advice.

Check out our blog page for more information about the business legal services that Gale and Vallance Small Business Attorney Orange County offers. Click here https://www.incorporationattorney.com/incorporation-training-california.