Each association formed under this article shall prepare and file articles of incorporation, setting forth: the name of the association; the purposes for which it was formed; the place where its principal business will be transacted; the term for which it is to exist; the number of directors thereof, which must not be less than five and may be any number in excess thereof; the term of office of such directors; the names and addresses of the persons who are to serve as incorporating directors until their successors are elected and qualified; if organized without capital stock, whether the property rights and interest of each member shall be equal or unequal, and, if unequal, the articles shall set forth the general rule or rules applicable to all members by which the property rights and interests, respectively, of each member may and shall be determined and fixed, and the association shall have the power to admit new members who shall be entitled to share in the property of the association with the old members in accordance with such general rule or rules; and, if organized with capital stock, the amount of such stock and number of shares into which it is divided and the par value thereof. The capital stock may be divided into preferred and common stock. If so divided, the articles of incorporation must contain a statement of the number of shares of stock to which preference is granted and the number of shares of stock to which no preference is granted and the nature and extent of the preference and privileges granted to each.

The articles must be subscribed by the incorporators and acknowledged by one of them before an officer authorized by the law of this state to take and certify acknowledgments of deeds and conveyances and shall be filed in accordance with the provisions of the general corporation law of this state. When so filed, the said articles of incorporation or certified copies thereof shall be received in all the courts of this state and in other places as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein and of the due incorporation of such association.