Although the main filing office of the Secretary of State is in Sacramento, there are four regional offices located in Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. All requests submitted to the regional offices must be presented in person for over-the-counter processing. The regional offices distribute forms and informational material and can process requests for any of the following services:

• Corporations: Corporation name reservations; filing of Articles of Incorporation to form a California corporation (excluding articles containing a statement of conversion which must be filed in the Sacramento office); filing of a Statement and Designation by Foreign Corporation form (to qualify an out of state or country corporation to transact business in California); issuance of status reports; and preparation of certificates on behalf of active corporations.

• Domestic Partners: Filing of a Declaration of Domestic Partnership (to register a domestic partnership), a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership (to terminate a registered domestic partnership) or a Revocation of Termination of Domestic Partnership (to revoke the termination of a registered domestic partnership).

• Authentications (Apostille or Certification): Authentication of a public official's signature (exluding notaries public). Authentications for notaries public must be processed in the Sacramento office.

Special handling fees are charged for filing, certificate, and corporation name reservation requests. Special handling fees are in addition to regular fees for such services and are applicable each time a request is presented. Special handling fees should be provided separate from other applicable fees.

Fees collected over-the-counter at the regional office locations may be made by check, money order, or credit card (Visa or MasterCard). The regional office are not able to accept cash.

The office hours for the regional office locations are Monday through Friday - 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please refer to Contact Information for regional office addresses and phone numbers.