Before we jump right into what how the Articles of Incorporation work, it’s important to understand how this legal document fits into the process of setting up a new corporation.

The "people" represent the incorporator(s). There can be one or more incorporators. Incorporators do the things necessary to bring the corporation "to life." The incorporators act on behalf of the corporation before there is a corporation. Incorporators do such things as sign and file the Articles of Incorporation, appoint a statutory agent, i.e. the person or entity that can receive service of process on behalf of the corporation (like a court summons), and may even call the first shareholders’ meeting or engage in other activities. Incorporators are invariably lawyers.

The "paper" represents the Articles of Incorporation, which is what this article is about.

The "act" is the actually filing of the Articles of Incorporation with the secretary of state (or other state agency). At the moment that the Articles of Incorporation are filed, the corporation comes "to life" (assuming everything is done properly). Think of the filing of the Articles of Incorporation as the "birth" of the corporation.

The "money" is the costs associated with the people, paper, and act. You’ll likely have to pay the incorporator, i.e. an attorney, if you don’t do it yourself. You’ll also have to pay the state filing fees associated with the Articles of Incorporation, which generally cost somewhere over $100 (but can be more in certain states).

Now that we’ve went over a basic review of where the Articles of Incorporation fit into the overall picture of creating a corporation we can explore some of the details about the Articles of Incorporation.

Next, let’s go over the purposes of the Articles of Incorporation.