CHAPTER 10. FOREIGN LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS
IC 23-16-10
Chapter 10. Foreign Limited Partnerships
IC 23-16-10-1
Law governing
Sec. 1. (a) Subject to the Constitution of the State of Indiana:
(1) the laws of the state or other jurisdiction or country under
which a foreign limited partnership is organized govern its
organization and internal affairs and the liability of its limited
partners; and
(2) a foreign limited partnership may not be denied registration
by reason of any difference between those laws and the laws of
Indiana.
(b) A foreign limited partnership is subject to IC 23-16-2-7.
IC 23-16-3-5 and IC 23-16-3-8 apply to foreign limited partnerships
as though they were domestic limited partnerships.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-2
Registration
Sec. 2. (a) Before transacting business in Indiana, a foreign
limited partnership shall register with the secretary of state. In order
to register, a foreign limited partnership must submit to the secretary
of state an original copy executed by a general partner, together with
a duplicate copy, of an application for registration as a foreign
limited partnership, signed and sworn to under penalties for perjury
by a general partner. The application must set forth the following:
(1) The name of the foreign limited partnership and, if different,
the name under which it proposes to register and transact
business in Indiana.
(2) The state, territory, possession, foreign country, or other
jurisdiction where the limited partnership was organized, the
date of its formation and a statement signed by a general partner
that, as of the date of filing, the foreign limited partnership
validly exists as a limited partnership under the laws of the
jurisdiction of its organization.
(3) The nature of the business or purpose to be promoted in
Indiana.
(4) The name and address of the registered agent for service of
process required under section 4 of this chapter.
(5) The name and business address, residence address, or
mailing address of each general partner.
(6) The date on which the foreign limited partnership first
transacted, or intends to transact, business in Indiana.
(7) The address of the office at which is kept a list of the names
and addresses of the limited partners and the capital
contributions of each, together with a statement by the foreign
limited partnership that it will keep those records until the
foreign limited partnership's registration in Indiana is cancelled.
(b) The following activities, among others, do not constitute
transacting business within the meaning of subsection (a):
(1) Maintaining, defending, or settling any proceeding.
(2) Holding meetings of the partners or carrying on other
activities concerning internal partnership affairs.
(3) Maintaining bank accounts.
(4) Maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange,
and registration of the partnership's own securities or
maintaining trustees or depositaries with respect to those
securities.
(5) Selling through independent contractors.
(6) Soliciting or obtaining orders, whether by mail or through
employees or agents or otherwise, if the orders require
acceptance outside Indiana before they become contracts.
(7) Creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, and security
interests in real or personal property.
(8) Securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages and
security interests in property securing the debts.
(9) Owning, without more, real or personal property.
(10) Conducting an isolated transaction that is completed within
thirty (30) days and that is not one (1) of a course of repeated
transactions of a like nature.
(11) Transacting business in interstate commerce.
(c) Service of legal process upon any foreign limited partnership
shall be made as provided in IC 23-16-2-3, except the secretary of
state is the agent for service of process for a foreign limited
partnership transacting business in Indiana without registration.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1. Amended by P.L.226-1989,
SEC.25.
IC 23-16-10-3
Issuance of registration
Sec. 3. (a) If the secretary of state finds that an application for
registration conforms to law and all requisite fees have been paid, the
secretary of state shall do the following:
(1) Endorse on the application the word "filed", and the date
and time of the filing. This endorsement is conclusive evidence
of the date and time of its filing in the absence of fraud.
(2) File the original application.
(3) Issue a certificate of registration to transact business in
Indiana.
(b) The certificate of registration, together with a copy of the
application, shall be returned to the person who filed the application
or to that person's representative.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-4
Name; specified office and agent; change of agent; change of
address of business office of agent; resignation of agent
Sec. 4. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a foreign limited
partnership may register with the secretary of state under any name
(whether or not it is the name under which it is registered in the
jurisdiction of its organization) that:
(1) includes the words "limited partnership" or the abbreviation
"L.P."; and
(2) could be registered by a domestic limited partnership.
(b) A foreign limited partnership may apply to the secretary of
state to use a name that is not distinguishable upon the secretary of
state's records from one (1) or more of the names described in
subsection (a). The secretary of state shall authorize use of the name
applied for if:
(1) the other domestic or foreign limited partnership files its
written consent to the use of its name, signed by any current
general partner of the other limited partnership and verified
subject to the penalties for perjury; or
(2) the applicant delivers to the secretary of state a certified
copy of a final court judgment establishing the applicant's right
to use the name applied for in Indiana.
(c) Each foreign limited partnership shall have and maintain:
(1) an office, which may be (but need not be) a place of its
business in Indiana; and
(2) a registered agent whose business address is in Indiana for
service of process on the foreign limited partnership, which may
be:
(A) an individual resident of Indiana; or
(B) a domestic corporation or a foreign corporation
authorized to transact business in Indiana.
(d) A foreign limited partnership may change its registered agent
by delivering to the secretary of state for filing a statement
containing the following:
(1) The name of the foreign limited partnership.
(2) The name of its current registered agent.
(3) The name and business address of the new registered agent
and the new agent's consent to the appointment (either on the
statement or attached to it).
(e) If a registered agent changes the address of the registered
agent's business office, the registered agent must notify the foreign
limited partnership in writing of the change, and sign and deliver to
the secretary of state for filing a statement that complies with the
requirements of subsection (d) and recites that the foreign limited
partnership has been notified of the change.
(f) A registered agent may resign the agency appointment by
signing and delivering to the secretary of state for filing the signed
original and two (2) exact or conformed copies of a statement of
resignation. After filing the statement, the secretary of state shall
mail one (1) copy to the partnership at the office referred to in
subsection (c)(1). The agency appointment is terminated on the
thirty-first day after the date on which the statement was filed.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-5
Service of process on registered agent
Sec. 5. (a) A foreign limited partnership's registered agent is the
foreign limited partnership's agent for service of process, notice, or
demand required or permitted by law to be served on the foreign
limited partnership.
(b) This section does not prescribe the only means, or necessarily
the required means, of serving a foreign limited partnership.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-6
Changes in and amendments to statements in application for
registration
Sec. 6. If any statement in the application for registration of a
foreign limited partnership was false when made or any
arrangements or other facts described in the application have
changed, making the application false in any respect, the foreign
limited partnership shall, within sixty (60) days after such a change,
file in the office of the secretary of state a certificate, signed and
sworn to under penalties for perjury by a general partner, correcting
the statement.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-7
Cancellation of registration
Sec. 7. A foreign limited partnership may cancel its registration
by filing with the secretary of state a certificate of cancellation
signed and sworn to under penalties for perjury by a general partner.
A cancellation does not terminate the authority of the secretary of
state to accept service of process on the foreign limited partnership
with respect to causes of action arising out of the transaction of
business in Indiana.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-8
Transaction of business without registration
Sec. 8. (a) A foreign limited partnership transacting business in
Indiana may not maintain any action in any court of Indiana until it
has registered in Indiana under this chapter and paid to the state all
fees and penalties for the years during which it did business in
Indiana without having registered.
(b) The failure of a foreign limited partnership to register in
Indiana does not:
(1) impair the validity of any contract or act of the foreign
limited partnership;
(2) impair the right of any other party to a contract with the
foreign limited partnership to maintain any action on the
contract; or
(3) prevent the foreign limited partnership from defending any
action in any court of Indiana.
(c) A limited partner of a foreign limited partnership is not liable
as a general partner of the foreign limited partnership solely by
reason of having transacted business in Indiana without registration.
(d) A foreign limited partnership, by transacting business in
Indiana without registration, appoints the secretary of state as its
agent for service of process with respect to causes of action arising
out of the transaction of business in Indiana.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.
IC 23-16-10-9
Action by attorney general
Sec. 9. The attorney general may bring an action to restrain a
foreign limited partnership from transacting business in Indiana in
violation of this article, and the circuit or superior court in any
county in which the foreign limited partnership is transacting
business without registration may enjoin any foreign limited
partnership or agent thereof from doing business in Indiana if it has
failed to register or if its registration has been procured on the basis
of false or misleading representations.
As added by P.L.147-1988, SEC.1.