To become a corporation, members of the board of directors of the agency shall present to the Secretary of State an application signed by them which shall state:
The application shall be subscribed and sworn to by each of the applicants before an officer authorized by the laws of this state to take acknowledgments to deeds. If the Secretary of State, upon examination of the application presented to him, finds that it substantially complies with the requirements of this section, he shall receive and file said application and record it in an appropriate book of records in his office. When the application has been made, filed and recorded as provided in this section, the applicants shall constitute a corporation under the name proposed in the application, and the Secretary of State shall make and issue to the applicants a certificate of incorporation pursuant to this article and shall record the certificate with the application. There shall be no fees paid to the Secretary of State for any work done in connection with the incorporation provided for in this section.
Ala. Code § 9-10-3 (1975)