Order the proof your next transaction will ask for.

A certificate of status, a certified charter copy, and an apostille each prove something different. Select the document that matches the receiving party’s requirement.

Certificate of status

Good standing / existence

An official short-form Certificate of Status/Good Standing costs $50.00; a long-form certificate showing all filings and status history costs $175.00. The online status check for $10 or $20 is not an official certificate. Certificate requests are returned by first-class mail unless a FedEx/UPS account is supplied; expedited fees are extra.

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Certified records

Charter and filing copies

Delaware certified-copy charges are document-specific under the Division's certificate-request fee schedule. The current request instructions require payment and identify the document; the reviewed public pages do not expose a universal corporation/LLC certified-copy flat-plus-page schedule. Certain Delaware records and special programs use a $50 certification plus $2 per page, but that should not be generalized to every corporate filing without checking the current fee chart.

Ask the recipient whether it needs a plain copy, a certified copy, a long-form certificate, or a certificate of authority.

Choose the evidence

The document request should follow the transaction.

A certificate of good standing or existence typically confirms that the entity appears active or current in the state registry at the time the certificate is issued. It may be needed to open a bank account, qualify in another state, satisfy a lender, complete a merger, or support a commercial contract.

A certified copy reproduces a filed public instrument with the agency’s certification. This is the appropriate request when the receiving party needs to review the entity’s formation document, a charter amendment, a conversion, a merger, or a dissolution instrument.

Neither document should be casually described as tax clearance. A state registry certificate may not establish that the entity has paid franchise, income, employment, sales, use, local, or industry-specific taxes.

International use

Apostille path, without the guesswork.

Delaware Division of Corporations handles apostille/gold-seal requests for eligible Delaware public records. Use https://corp.delaware.gov/regguide/ and state the destination country; submit the certified record, payment, and a complete contact/return address. The FAQ states mailed requests are typically processed the same business day and hand-delivered requests within two hours for eligible authentication work, but current fees depend on the document and service requested.

01 · Confirm destination

Ask the receiving authority whether it requires an apostille, authentication, legalization, translation, or a recently issued certificate.

02 · Certify first

Many state authentication offices require a qualifying certified document before they can authenticate the signature or seal.

03 · Preserve the chain

Keep the original certificate, apostille, receipt, delivery record, and any translation together in the transaction file.

Before you pay for a document

Confirm the exact legal name and entity ID in the live public record.
Check whether the status is active and whether a delinquent report must be filed first.
Identify the required date window; some recipients will reject an older certificate.
Choose electronic delivery only if the recipient accepts a digital document.
Confirm whether the document must be certified, notarized, apostilled, or translated.

When the transaction is material, order the document directly from the designated agency or through its official system. Commercial document vendors may add a service fee for an item that the state makes available directly.