Secretary Of State Makes Terminating LLCs More Convenient

In June 2017, the California Secretary of State announced the debut of Bizfile, an online portal to help businesses file, search, and order business records quickly and conveniently from one webpage.  Over the last year, the Secretary of State's office has expanded Bizfile's capabilities to include online trademarks and servicemarks filings and Limited Liability Company (LLC) formations.  Last week, the office announced that Bizfile may now be used to terminate LLCs.  

An obvious concern is that by making LLC terminations easier, Bizfile will facilitate fraudulent or mistaken LLC terminations.  Bizfile requires the user to self-certify that his or her authority:

"By checking this box, I understand it is my responsibility to select the correct entity, and modifying the record of an incorrect entity may result in civil or criminal liability. I confirm that I have reviewed the Entity Detail information and I have the authority to modify the above entity record."

However, this acknowledgement is unlikely to deter the malign or the mistaken.