Prove your business is in good standing

A Certificate of Good Standing (also called a Certificate of Existence or Certificate of Status in some states) is an official document issued by the Secretary of State confirming that your business entity is currently registered, active, and in compliance with all state requirements — annual reports filed, franchise taxes paid, and registered agent on record.

Certificates of Good Standing have no official expiration date, but the requesting party (a bank, lender, or government agency) typically requires the certificate to have been issued within the last 30, 60, or 90 days. Always check the specific recency requirement of whoever is requesting the document before you order.

Kicker's service fee is $99 for standard processing or $149 for expedited/rush processing. You also pay the applicable state fee, which ranges from $5 (California, Florida) to $50 (Delaware). The total is shown clearly before you confirm your order — no surprise charges.

These terms are often used interchangeably, though technically a Certificate of Existence confirms the entity is registered, while a Certificate of Good Standing additionally confirms it is compliant with state requirements. In practice, most states issue one document that covers both. Some states use different names: Texas issues a Certificate of Fact – Status; Florida calls it a Certificate of Status.

No. The state will only issue a Certificate of Good Standing if your business is fully compliant. If you have overdue annual reports, unpaid franchise taxes, or a lapsed registered agent, you must resolve those issues first. Kicker can help you identify and remediate outstanding compliance gaps before we file for your certificate.

Processing time depends on the state. Delaware typically issues same-day; Nevada 1–2 business days; Wyoming 3–5 business days standard or same-day expedited. With our expedited service ($149 + state fee) we submit via the state's rush queue, which cuts processing to same-day or 24 hours in most states. Standard processing follows the state's normal timeline.

You typically only need a certificate from your home state (the state of formation) for most purposes. However, some transactions require a certificate from each state where your business is foreign-qualified. If you are unsure, ask the requesting party which state's certificate they need — our support team can help coordinate certificates from multiple states.

Yes. We provide a digital PDF copy immediately upon issuance and a certified physical copy shipped the same business day. Additional certified copies can be ordered at the time of your initial request or separately. For international use, we can also coordinate apostille authentication.

If the state rejects the request due to a compliance issue, we'll notify you immediately, explain the rejection reason in plain language, and help you resolve the underlying issue. Once the compliance gap is fixed, we resubmit at no additional Kicker service fee. If the state cannot issue a certificate at all due to an unresolvable issue, we provide a full refund of our fee.

For international use, the certificate typically needs to be apostilled or authenticated under the Hague Convention before it will be accepted by foreign authorities, courts, or businesses. We offer apostille coordination as part of our expedited package — just let us know during ordering and we will handle the apostille filing after the state issues the certificate.