Okay, now that you have a basic understanding of what the bylaws are, let’s take a look at what you’ll likely find in the bylaws.
The bylaws are the GUTS of how a corporation works. If you’ve never seen bylaws before, you’ll likely find many new words and concepts that sound foreign to you. Don’t worry about it. The main point of this article is to give you an overview about the bylaws and expose you to some new concepts. If you have to read this section a few times to better understand it – it’s well worth the effort.
For others that have learned about corporate structures and bylaws, this may be very basic. That’s okay too, as you can skip this section or use it as a general overview about what you already know.
The bylaws of each corporation will vary, sometimes dramatically, depending on the type, size, function of the company, and the state in which the company is incorporated (as each state has different laws). With that said, let’s take a look at the internal components of a corporation – its bylaws.
The bylaws will generally discuss topics such as:
- Offices
- Directors
- Directors’ Meetings
- Shareholders
- Shareholders’ Meetings
- Officers
- Corporate Records
- Transfer and Issuance of Shares
- Indemnification
- Miscellaneous Provisions
- Amendments
Next, we’ll go over each of these topics in more detail.