By Eric Geringswald | CSC

Wyoming Chancery Court

Wyoming’s Chancery Court went live in December 2021 after the state’s Supreme Court adopted final rules for the new court three months earlier.

The Wyoming legislature created the Chancery Court in 2019 “to provide a forum for streamlined resolution of commercial, business, and trust cases” through the use of non-jury trials, alternative dispute resolution methods, and limited motions practice. The court has jurisdiction to decide actions seeking declaratory or injunctive relief and actions seeking money recovery over $50,000 that arise from claims including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, derivative actions, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the Uniform Trust Code.

The new court will also focus on complex commercial disputes involving blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

Last year, Wyoming became the first state to recognize the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) as a legal business entity. Aimed at cryptocurrency collectives, DAOs are governed by smart contracts rather than the traditional hierarchy of an LLC.

In the latest legislative session, lawmakers passed a number of amendments to the laws concerning DAOs, primarily focused on establishing how individuals can join, leave and vote in the entities. For example, DAOs must now include a statement in their articles of organization establishing how the DAO will be managed by the members, including to what extent the management will be conducted algorithmically. The DAO’s articles of organization and smart contract must also govern procedures for updating, modifying, or otherwise revising the entity’s smart contracts, as well as dispute resolution.

Wyoming Laws Governing Business Entities Annotated

The latest legislative changes, as well as the Uniform Rules for the state’s newly formed Chancery Court, the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure for the Chancery Court and the Wyoming State Chancery Court Electronic Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual are included in the 2022 edition of CSC® Publishing’s Wyoming Laws Governing Business Entities Annotated.

This latest edition features the full text of Title 17 – Corporations, Partnerships and Associations, and other sections related to business entity law, updated through the 2022 Wyoming legislative session. The book’s Legislative Analysis explores changes coming out of the 2022 session.

The 2022 edition is fully annotated with the latest case notes from state and federal courts interpreting the law, and also includes an easy-to-reference Fee Schedule showing the Secretary of State’s required filing fees for various business services. Readers also get access to more than 60 Wyoming forms for incorporation/formation, qualification, mergers, dissolution, and name reservation for all entity types via the Lexis Store download center. A listing of forms and contact information for Wyoming is included in the forms appendix.

The book’s expansive index, sequential pagination, and page tabs make finding the information quicker and easier, while larger pages and a clean typeface enhance readability.

As with CSC’s other annotated statutory collections, Wyoming Laws Governing Business Entities is available as an ebook and is part of the LexisNexis Digital Library.

To learn more about the 2022 Edition of Wyoming Laws Governing Business Entities, call 1.800.533.1637 or visit us online at www.lexisnexis.com/csc.