Source: https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_55b.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 23:27:34+00:00

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(1) "Disqualified person" means a licensed person who for any reason becomes legally disqualified to render the same professional services which are or were being rendered by the professional corporation of which such person is an officer, director, shareholder or employee.
(2) "Licensee" means any natural person who is duly licensed by the appropriate licensing board to render the same professional services which will be rendered by the professional corporation of which he is, or intends to become, an officer, director, shareholder or employee.
(3) "Licensing board" means a board which is charged with the licensing and regulating of the profession or practice in this State in which the professional corporation is organized to engage.
(4) The term "licensing board," as the same applies to attorneys at law, shall mean the Council of the North Carolina State Bar, and it shall include the North Carolina State Board of Law Examiners only to the extent that the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners is authorized to issue licenses for the practice of law under the supervision of the Council of the North Carolina State Bar.
(5) "Professional corporation" means a corporation which is engaged in rendering the professional services as herein specified and defined, pursuant to a certificate of registration issued by the Licensing Board regulating the profession or practice, and which has as its shareholders only those individuals permitted by G.S. 55B-6 of this Chapter to be shareholders and which designates itself as may be required by this statute, and which is organized under the provisions of this Chapter and of Chapter 55, the North Carolina Business Corporation Act.
§ 55B-3. North Carolina Business Corporation Act applicable; other applicable law.
(a) Chapter 55 of the General Statutes, the North Carolina Business Corporation Act, applies to professional corporations, including their organization, and professional corporations shall enjoy the powers and privileges and shall be subject to the duties, restrictions and liabilities of other corporations, except insofar as the same may be limited or enlarged by this Chapter. If any provision of this Chapter conflicts with the provisions of Chapter 55 of the General Statutes, the North Carolina Business Corporation Act, the provisions of this Chapter shall prevail.
§ 55B-4. Formation of corporation.
(1) At least one incorporator shall be a "licensee" as hereinabove defined in G.S. 55B-2(2).
(2) All of the shares of stock of the corporation shall be owned and held by a licensee, or licensees, as hereinabove defined in G.S. 55B-2(2), except as otherwise permitted in G.S. 55B-6.
(3) At least one director and one officer shall be a "licensee" as hereinabove defined in G.S. 55B-2(2).
(a) Except as provided in subsections (a1) and (b) of this section, a professional corporation may issue shares of its capital stock only to a licensee as defined in G.S. 55B-2, and a shareholder may voluntarily transfer shares of stock issued to the shareholder only to another licensee. No share or shares of any stock of a professional corporation shall be transferred upon the books of the corporation unless the corporation has received a certification of the appropriate licensing board that the transferee is a licensee. Provided, it shall be lawful in the case of professional corporations rendering services as defined in Chapters 83A, 89A, 89C, 89E, and 89F, for nonlicensed employees of the corporation to own not more than one-third of the total issued and outstanding shares of the corporation; and provided further, with respect to a professional corporation rendering services as defined in Chapters 83A, 89A, 89C, and 89E of the General Statutes, an employee retirement plan qualified under section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or any successor section), is deemed for purposes of this section to be a licensee if the trustee or trustees of the plan are licensees. Provided further, subject to any additional conditions that the appropriate licensing board may by rule or order impose in the public interest, it shall be lawful for individuals who are not licensees but who perform professional services on behalf of a professional corporation in another jurisdiction in which the corporation maintains an office, and who are duly licensed to perform professional services under the laws of the other jurisdiction, to be shareholders of the corporation so long as there is at least one shareholder who is a licensee as defined in G.S. 55B-2, and the corporation renders its professional services in the State only through those shareholders that are licensed in North Carolina. Upon the transfer of any shares of such corporation to a nonlicensed employee of such corporation, the corporation shall inform the appropriate licensing board of the name and address of the transferee and the number of shares issued to the nonprofessional transferee. The issuance or transfer of any share of stock in violation of this section is void. No shareholder of a professional corporation shall enter into a voting trust agreement or any other type of agreement vesting in another person the authority to exercise the voting power of any of the stock of a professional corporation.
(2) All licensees who perform professional services on behalf of the corporation comply with Chapter 93 of the General Statutes and the rules adopted thereunder.
§ 55B-7. Death or disqualification of a stockholder or employee.
(a) If any officer, shareholder, agent or employee of a corporation organized under this Chapter who is a licensee becomes legally disqualified to render professional services within this State, he shall sever all employment with, and financial interest in, such corporation forthwith. A corporation's failure to comply with this provision shall constitute grounds for the forfeiture of its certificate of incorporation and its dissolution. When a corporation's failure to comply with this provision is brought to the attention of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State shall forthwith certify that fact to the Attorney General for appropriate action to dissolve the corporation.
§ 55B-8. Rendition of professional services.
§ 55B-9. Professional relationship and liability.
(a) Relationship. - Nothing in this Chapter shall be interpreted to abolish, modify, restrict, limit or alter the law in this State applicable to the professional relationship and liabilities between the licensee furnishing the professional services and the person receiving such professional service, or the standards of professional conduct applicable to the rendering therein of such services.
§ 55B-10. Registration with licensing board.
§ 55B-11. Renewal of certificate of registration.
§ 55B-12. Application of regulations of licensing boards.
(a) A professional corporation shall be subject to the applicable rules and regulations adopted by, and all the disciplinary powers of, the licensing board as herein defined. Nothing in this Chapter shall impair the disciplinary powers of any licensing board applicable to a licensee as herein defined. No professional corporation may do any act which its shareholders as licensees are prohibited from doing.
§ 55B-13. Suspension or revocation of certificate of registration.
(2) Upon a finding by the licensing board that the professional corporation has failed to comply with the provisions of this Chapter or the regulations of the licensing board.
§ 55B-14. Types of professional services.
(a) A professional corporation shall render only one specific type professional service, and such services as may be ancillary thereto, and shall not engage in any other business or profession; provided, however, such corporation may own real and personal property necessary or appropriate for rendering the type of professional services it was organized to render and it may invest in real estate, mortgages, stocks, bonds, and any other type of investments.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, in the case of architectural, landscape architectural, engineering or land surveying, geological, and soil science services, as defined in Chapters 83A, 89A, 89C, 89E, and 89F respectively, one corporation may be authorized to provide such of these services where such corporation, and at least one corporate officer who is a stockholder thereof, is duly licensed by the licensing board of each such profession.
(1) A licensed psychologist and a physician practicing psychiatry to render psychotherapeutic and related services.
(2) Any combination of a registered nurse, nurse practitioner, certified clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing, certified nurse midwife, and certified nurse anesthetist, to render nursing and related services that the respective stockholders are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved to provide.
(3) A physician and a physician assistant who is licensed, registered, or otherwise certified under Chapter 90 of the General Statutes to render medical and related services.
(4) A physician, a licensed psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, or each of them and a certified clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing, a licensed marriage and family therapist, a licensed professional counselor, or each of them, to render psychotherapeutic and related services that the respective stockholders are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved to provide.
(5) A physician and any combination of a nurse practitioner, certified clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing, or certified nurse midwife, registered or otherwise certified under Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, to render medical and related services that the respective stockholders are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved to provide.
(6) A physician practicing anesthesiology and a certified nurse anesthetist to render anesthesia and related medical services that the respective stockholders are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved to provide.
(7) A physician and an audiologist who is licensed under Article 22 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes to render audiological and related medical services that the respective stockholders are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved to provide.
(8) A physician practicing ophthalmology and an optometrist who is licensed under Article 6 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes to render either or both of ophthalmic services and optometric and related services that the respective stockholders are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved to provide.
§ 55B-15. Applicability of Chapter.
(1) A corporation which prior to June 5, 1969, was permitted by law to render professional services or the corporate successor of that corporation by merger or otherwise by operation of law, provided there is no substantial change in the direct or indirect beneficial ownership of the shares of that corporation as the result of the merger or other transaction. For purposes of this subdivision, a change of twenty percent (20%) or less shall not be considered substantial.
(2) A corporation authorized in this State to render primary services governed by Articles 1, 2, 4, or 5 of Chapter 87 of the General Statutes, if the corporation renders services as defined in Chapter 89C of the General Statutes, that are reasonably necessary and connected with the primary services performed by individuals regularly employed in the ordinary course of business by the corporation. The professional services may not be offered, performed, or rendered independently from the primary services rendered by the corporation. This subdivision does not restrict, limit, or modify the requirement that professional services must be provided by individuals regularly employed in the ordinary course of business by the corporation and duly licensed to render these professional services in this State. Nothing in this subdivision shall be interpreted to abolish, modify, restrict, limit, or alter the law in this State applicable to the professional relationship and liabilities between licensees furnishing the professional service and the person receiving the professional service, or the standards of professional conduct applicable to the rendering of the professional service.
§ 55B-16. Foreign professional corporations.
(6) The application for certificate of authority, in addition to the requirements of G.S. 55-15-03, shall set forth the personal services to be rendered by the foreign professional corporation and the individual or individuals who will satisfy the requirements of G.S. 55B-16(a)(2) and shall be accompanied by a certification by the appropriate licensing board that each individual is a "licensee" as defined in G.S. 55B-2(2) and by additional certifications as may be required to establish that the corporation is a "foreign professional corporation" as defined in G.S. 55B-16(b).
2. All licensees who perform professional services on behalf of the corporation in this State comply with Chapter 93 of the General Statutes and the rules adopted thereunder.
(b1) With respect to a professional corporation rendering services as defined in Chapters 83A, 89A, 89C, and 89E of the General Statutes, an employee retirement plan qualified under section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or any successor section), is deemed for purposes of this section to be an individual licensee if at least one trustee of the plan is a licensee and all other trustees are licensees or are individuals who are licensed under the laws of a state in which the corporation maintains an office to perform at least one of the professional services, as defined in Chapter 83A, 89A, 89C, or 89E of the General Statutes, rendered by the corporation.

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