CONVERSION OF DOMESTIC CORPORATION TO AN ENTITY

A. A domestic corporation may, upon the authorization of such conversion in accordance with this section, convert to an entity. As used in this section, the term "entity" means a domestic or foreign partnership, whether general or limited, and including a limited liability partnership and a limited liability limited partnership, a limited liability company, and any unincorporated nonprofit or for-profit association, trust or enterprise having members or having outstanding shares of stock or other evidences of financial, beneficial or membership interest therein, whether formed by agreement or under statutory authority or otherwise and whether formed or organized under the laws of this state or the laws of any other jurisdiction.

B. The board of directors of the corporation which desires to convert under this section shall adopt a resolution approving such conversion, specifying the type of entity into which the corporation shall be converted and recommending the approval of the conversion by the shareholders of the corporation. The resolution shall be submitted to the shareholders of the corporation at an annual or special meeting. Due notice of the time, and purpose of the meeting shall be mailed to each holder of shares, whether voting or nonvoting, of the corporation at the address of the shareholder as it appears on the records of the corporation, at least twenty (20) days prior to the date of the meeting. At the meeting, the resolution shall be considered and a vote taken for its adoption or rejection. The corporation adopts the conversion if all outstanding shares of stock of the corporation, whether voting or nonvoting, are voted for the resolution.

C. If the governing act of the domestic entity to which the corporation is converting does not provide for the filing of a conversion notice with the Secretary of State or the corporation is converting to a foreign entity, the corporation shall file with the Secretary of State a certificate of conversion executed in accordance with Section 1007 of this title which certifies:

1. The name of the corporation and, if it has been changed, the name under which it was originally incorporated;

2. The date of filing of its original certificate of incorporation with the Secretary of State;

3. The name of the entity to which the corporation shall be converted, its jurisdiction of formation if a foreign entity, and the type of entity;

4. That the conversion has been approved in accordance with the provisions of this section;

5. The future effective date or time of the conversion to an entity, which shall be a date or time certain not later than ninety (90) days after the filing, if it is not to be effective upon the filing of the certificate of conversion;

6. The agreement of the foreign entity that it may be served with process in this state in any action, suit or proceeding for enforcement of any obligation of the foreign entity arising while it was a domestic corporation and that it irrevocably appoints the Secretary of State as its agent to accept service of process in any such action, suit or proceeding;

7. The address to which a copy of the process referred to in this subsection shall be mailed by the Secretary of State. In the event of such service upon the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of Section 2004 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the Secretary of State shall immediately notify such corporation that has converted out of the State of Oklahoma by letter, certified mail, return receipt requested, directed to the corporation at the address specified unless the corporation shall have designated in writing to the Secretary of State a different address for this purpose, in which case it shall be mailed to the last address so designated. The notice shall include a copy of the process and any other papers served on the Secretary of State pursuant to the provisions of this subsection. It shall be the duty of the plaintiff in the event of such service to serve process and any other papers in duplicate, to notify the Secretary of State that service is being effected pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, and to pay the Secretary of State the fee provided for in paragraph 7 of Section 1142 of this title, which fee shall be taxed as part of the costs in the proceeding. The Secretary of State shall maintain an alphabetical record of any such service setting forth the name of the plaintiff and the defendant, the title, docket number, and nature of the proceeding in which process has been served upon the Secretary of State, the fact that service has been effected pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, the return date thereof, and the date service was made. The Secretary of State shall not be required to retain such information longer than five (5) years from receipt of the service of process by the Secretary of State; and

8. If the entity to which the corporation is converting was required to make a filing with the Secretary of State as a condition of its formation, the type and date of such filing.

D. Upon the filing of a conversion notice with the Secretary of State, whether under subsection C of this section or under the governing act of the domestic entity to which the corporation is converting, the filing of any formation document required by the governing act of the domestic entity to which the corporation is converting, and payment to the Secretary of State of all prescribed fees, the Secretary of State shall certify that the corporation has filed all documents and paid all required fees, and thereupon the corporation shall cease to exist as a domestic corporation at the time the certificate of conversion becomes effective in accordance with Section 1007 of this title. The certificate of the Secretary of State shall be prima facie evidence of the conversion by the corporation.

E. The conversion of a corporation under this section and the resulting cessation of its existence as a domestic corporation shall not be deemed to affect any obligations or liabilities of the corporation incurred before such conversion or the personal liability of any person incurred before the conversion, nor shall it be deemed to affect the choice of law applicable to the corporation with respect to matters arising before the conversion.

F. Unless otherwise provided in a resolution of conversion adopted in accordance with this section, the converting corporation shall not be required to wind up its affairs or pay its liabilities and distribute its assets, and the conversion shall not constitute a dissolution of such corporation.

G. In a conversion of a domestic corporation to an entity under this section, shares of stock of the converting domestic corporation may be exchanged for or converted into cash, property, rights or securities of, or memberships or membership, economic or ownership interests in, the entity to which the domestic corporation is being converted or, in addition to or in lieu thereof, may be exchanged for or converted into cash, property, shares of stock, rights or securities of, or interests in, another corporation or entity or may be canceled.

H. When a corporation has converted to an entity under this section, the entity shall be deemed to be the same entity as the corporation. All of the rights, privileges and powers of the corporation that has converted, and all property, real, personal and mixed, and all debts due to the corporation, as well as all other things and causes of action belonging to the corporation, shall remain vested in the entity to which the corporation has converted and shall be the property of the entity, and the title to any real property vested by deed or otherwise in the corporation shall not revert or be in any way impaired by reason of the conversion; but all rights of creditors and all liens upon any property of the corporation shall be preserved unimpaired, and all debts, liabilities and duties of the corporation that has converted shall remain attached to the entity to which the corporation has converted, and may be enforced against it to the same extent as if said debts, liabilities and duties had originally been incurred or contracted by it in its capacity as the entity. The rights, privileges, powers and interest in property of the corporation that has converted, as well as the debts, liabilities and duties of the corporation, shall not be deemed, as a consequence of the conversion, to have been transferred to the entity to which the corporation has converted for any purpose of the laws of this state.

I. No vote of shareholders of a corporation shall be necessary to authorize a conversion if no shares of the stock of the corporation shall have been issued before the adoption by the board of directors of the resolution approving the conversion.

J. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize the conversion of a charitable nonstock corporation into another entity, if the charitable status of such charitable nonstock corporation would thereby be lost or impaired.

Added by Laws 2001, c. 405, § 27, eff. Nov. 1, 2001. Amended by Laws 2004, c. 255, § 28, eff. Nov. 1, 2004; Laws 2008, c. 253, § 13; Laws 2019, c. 88, § 24, eff. Nov. 1, 2019.

NOTE: Laws 2008, c. 382, § 315, which changed the effective date of Laws 2008, c. 253, §§ 1-47 to Jan. 1, 2010, was held unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in the case of Weddington v. Henry, 202 P.3d 143, 2008 OK 102 (2009).