New York Corporate Bylaws
New York corporate bylaws are the rules that define your business operations and create an organizational structure for your company. Bylaws outline policies for appointing directors and officers, amending the bylaws themselves, holding shareholder and board meetings, and dissolving the business, among other issues.
Because your bylaws are crucial to your business, we provide an attorney-drafted template you can use for free to create corporate bylaws specific to your company.
FAQs
Are bylaws filed with the state of New York?
No. Your corporate bylaws are internal documents, which means they should be kept on file with your business records.
Do bylaws need to be signed?
You’ll want to make sure your bylaws are signed, even though New York statutes do not explicitly state that bylaws need to be signed. Including the names and signatures of all board members and officers in your bylaws adds to your corporation’s legitimacy.
How do I amend my bylaws in New York?
New York’s statutes (see NY Bus Corp L § 601 Ch. 4 ) provide some rules for amending bylaws, but for the most part, corporations establish the procedures for amending bylaws in their Certificate of Incorporation and in the bylaws themselves.
For example, NY Bus Corp L § 613 states that the Certificate of Incorporation may limit the voting power of some shareholders, while NY Bus Corp L § 608 indicates that bylaws may change the terms of a quorum (the minimum number of folks required to be present for a vote) from a simple majority to a “lesser quorum.”