A Washington Certificate of Fact is a document issued by the Secretary of State that verifies one or more specific historical events in a business entity’s record, such as a name change, merger, administrative dissolution, delinquency, intent to dissolve, or conversion outside the state. You order it online through the Washington Corporations and Charities Filing System for a $20 certificate fee plus a $20 processing fee, with delivery by email in one to three business days.
What a Certificate of Fact Verifies
When you request a Certificate of Fact, you tell the Secretary of State exactly which event or detail you need confirmed from the office’s files. Common requests include:
- A name change
- An administrative dissolution or termination
- A merger
- A delinquency
- An intent to dissolve
- A conversion outside Washington State
Attorneys and title companies typically order these during due diligence for acquisitions or real estate closings, where an official state record is needed to confirm that a particular corporate event happened on a specific date. The certificate speaks only to what the Secretary of State’s records show about the facts you asked about.
When You Need a Certificate of Fact vs. a Certificate of Existence
These two documents come from the same office and cost the same, but they answer different questions, and ordering the wrong one is a common source of delay with banks, lenders, and out-of-state filings.
A Certificate of Existence (sometimes called a Certificate of Good Standing) confirms that your business is currently active, has filed its most recent annual report, and owes no outstanding fees to the Secretary of State. This is what banks and lenders usually want when you open a business account, apply for financing, or qualify to do business in another state.
A Certificate of Fact is the right choice when someone needs proof of a specific past event rather than a snapshot of your current status. If a buyer’s lawyer wants state confirmation that your prior entity was administratively dissolved on a certain date, or that a merger took effect when you say it did, that is a Fact request, not an Existence request.
How to Order Online
All certificate orders go through the Washington Corporations and Charities Filing System at ccfs.sos.wa.gov. Before you start, have the exact legal name of the business as it appears on the state register, or the entity’s Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number, which is the nine-digit number assigned when the business obtained its license. The filing system includes a search tool if you need to look up either one.
Inside your account, navigate to the Certified Copies/Certificates section and select the Certificate of Fact option. Specify the historical events you want verified. The more precisely you describe the fact and the date, the less likely the request is to come back for clarification.
Standard delivery is by email in one to three business days. If you need a plain confirmation that your business is currently in good standing rather than verification of a past event, skip the Fact option and use the Express PDF for a Certificate of Existence instead; it generates immediately for the $20 base fee with no processing charge.
Fees and Processing Times
- Certificate of Fact on Record: $20
- Processing fee through the Certified Copies/Certificates section: $20
- Expedited service: $100 per business entity, processed within three working days
- Same-day service: $150 per business entity
Standard online orders arrive by email in one to three business days. If you need the Certificate of Fact faster, the $100 expedited fee or $150 same-day fee applies on top of the certificate and processing fees.
Mail Requests
If you want a physical, embossed hard copy, mail your request to the Corporations and Charities Division in Olympia with a check or money order payable to the Secretary of State for the applicable fees. To expedite, add $100 per business entity and write “EXPEDITE” on the outside of the envelope. Allow postal transit time on top of the processing window.
Letting a Third Party Confirm the Certificate
Anyone who receives your Certificate of Fact can verify it is genuine through the Apostille and Certificate Authenticity Search tool on sos.wa.gov. Entering the document’s identifying information returns whether it matches the Secretary of State’s official records. This is worth flagging to out-of-state recipients or foreign agencies that want independent confirmation before relying on the document.