Have you ever received a letter from a shareholder in your business demanding an inspection of the books and records of the company? If you never have, count yourself lucky.

Florida Law

That’s because Florida law provides a right for any shareholder to inspect the books and records of a company. Florida Statutes section 607.1602 gives a shareholder the right to inspect various categories of company books and records. The key to evaluating a request is to determine what is being requested. Florida law defines corporate records; not everything for which a shareholder demands an inspection must be provided.

The time period in which documents must be provided depends on what is requested and the place of inspection. Again, Florida law provides the answer. In general, if the inspection will take place at the company headquarters, the response time is shorter.

No particular form of inspection request is required:  it could be a certified letter, a regular letter, an email.  At this point, emojis probably will not work, though. : (

C-Suite Speaker Series

If you want to learn more, join us for the kick-off of Henderson Franklin’s C-Suite Speaker Series on September 15, 2016, from 5 pm to 7pm. My colleague, Mark Nieds, Esq., and I will drill down on demands to inspect corporate records and answer questions on the topic. The event is complimentary, but you must pre-register. To register now, please click here.

 

Image Courtesy of paurian The Detective under Flickr Creative Commons License