How we check every fact

SOS Search explains how to search each state's official business records. We're an independent guide. We aren't a government agency and we don't keep a business register. Only the state can confirm a record or accept a filing, so every guide links to the state's own search first.

Where the facts come from

Fees, deadlines, contact details and naming rules come from the state agency that publishes them: its search portal, fee schedule, forms and how-to pages, and the statute when a rule needs it. Blogs, formation-company pages and search snippets are never used as sources, not even as a second source.

The facts live in one dataset rather than being typed into pages. Each value records the official page it was read from. If a value changes, it's fixed once and every page that shows it updates on the next release.

What "verified" means

• The official page was opened and read, not judged from a search result.
• The verified date moves forward only when every source on that guide was re-read and its values confirmed.
• When the state's own documents disagree, we say so on the page instead of picking one quietly.
• When a figure can't be confirmed from an official source, we leave it out.

The name check

The name check on each guide sends the name you type and the state to our server. For Colorado, Connecticut, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania, our server looks the name up in the business-records file that state publishes as open data. For other states, it asks LegalZoom's business name check whether a matching name is on file. We don't send them anything else about you. We keep results for 24 hours so repeat checks are faster. The result is preliminary: it isn't the state's own search, it can't reserve a name, and only the state decides whether a name is accepted when it reviews a filing. Every result links to the state's official search so you can confirm it there.

If you click a formation link from a result, the name you checked is passed to that service so you don't have to type it again.

Formation links also tell the service which button you clicked, which page you first landed on, and the kind of site that sent you (for example a search engine or an AI assistant). We keep that in your browser for the current visit only, with no cookies, and it doesn't identify you.

How the site makes money

Some pages link to business formation services. If you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Those links are marked as sponsored in the page code, and every result and guide also links to the official state site.

Report an error

Email [email protected] with the page, what's wrong, and the official page that shows the correct figure if you have it. We check every correction against the state's source before changing anything.