Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Church name change

You prepare and file a Certificate of Amendment (Domestic Nonprofit Corporation) with the Secretary of State (S/S). The S/S Web site has a sample along with instructions; go to www.ss.ca.gov and look at the business forms menu. What you'll be looking at is NOT A FORM - it is a SAMPLE, along with isntructions for creating your own Certificate of Amendment. Do not copy the sample; create your own Certificate following the instructions carefully and using the sample as a rough guide to what your Certificate should look like.

Note the $30 fee and the number of copies to be submitted.

You are probably going to have to change your bylaws, since they undoubtedly state what the name of the corporation is. This should be a simple amendment, however. Just adopt an amendment saying "The name of this corporation was changed from X to Y, effective 12/12/2007 or whenever the Secretary of State stamps your Certificate.

Also note that items sent to the S/S by mail can take weeks to get processed and returned to you, but usually they are officially stamped and become effective as of the day they are received, opened and put in line for processing!