Hey all.
I'm wanting to incorporate my small Web design business. It's basically a
partnership with no real assets, and at the offset not much income. If we
could afford it, we'd hire a real lawyer in a second! But my gosh they're
expensive.

I've been seeing these 3rd party companies that will file the paperwork for
you and for a little more provide you with some extras and packages, etc.
I'm really completely ignorant of all the tax, and election, and other
paperwork that would need to be submitted that they do for you.

Now, I know they're all also in business to make money, I accept that. And
it's possibly worth it to me to pay a fee that's smaller than a lawyer's
fee, to someone who knows what they're doing and may also provide me with
some value-added extras.
Anyone have any opinions or suggestions on the matter?

Some of the places I've found are:
http://www.registeringacorporation.com/index.shtml
http://www.mycorporation.com/
http://www.bizfilings.com/index.asp

Thanks for any suggestions and advice!
Liam

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 01:56:02 GMT LRW <druid@nospahmcelticbear.com> whittled these words: I'm wanting to incorporate my small Web design business. It's basically a partnership with no real assets, and at the offset not much income. If we could afford it, we'd hire a real lawyer in a second! But my gosh they're expensive.

You can invest your own time in educating yourself and do a credible job
as long as you don't try skating on the edges. Meaning don't do things
that you aren't *sure* are OK.
I've been seeing these 3rd party companies that will file the paperwork for you and for a little more provide you with some extras and packages, etc. I'm really completely ignorant of all the tax, and election, and other paperwork that would need to be submitted that they do for you.

If you aren't going to hire the kind of help you can hold responsible if a
mistake is made, you need to become unignoran.
Now, I know they're all also in business to make money, I accept that. And it's possibly worth it to me to pay a fee that's smaller than a lawyer's fee, to someone who knows what they're doing and may also provide me with some value-added extras.

Yes, its possible. Its also possible that you could pay your money to
someone who *thinks* they know what they are doing but are wrong. If you
pay someone but you can't confirm that they meet some standards of
professional knowledge you are taking significant risks. At least invest
enough of your time in learning the rules and what must be done that you
can sort out those who know from those who do not. Nothing at all wrong
with using educated experienced paper shufflers if you are prepared to
take responsiblity for their errors. If you want someone else to bear the
risk of error they will have to be paid enough to cover the education and
insurance.
Anyone have any opinions or suggestions on the matter?

Start with some of the Nolo Press books. http://www.nolo.com. Then spend
some time with
Some of the places I've found are: http://www.registeringacorporation.com/index.shtml

Um - The way this is written makes it appear they ARE "real lawyers" If
they are then you have the professional responsibility part covered
(although I suppose you shouldn't take malpractice coverae for granted).
I would confirm whether there is person supervising and/or preparing the
paperwork who is in fact a currently licensed attorney. Check whether,
like the site below, they disclaim liability for errors.

If they are current attorneys actually accepting responsiblity for the
legal fitness of their work product then its just a matter of whether you
can accept their fees and work well with them. If NOT then I wouldn't
want to engage someone who artfully creates mis-impressions (I don't think
this is the case here, but you have to check to be sure)
http://www.mycorporation.com/

This one may have been started by attorneys but it looks like from their
liablity waiver that you are expected to know more or less what you are
doing. It might be worth the money to have the site walk you through the
process, or it might not. I really have no idea. But I think YOU will
have a better idea if you first spend some time with at least a couple of
"do-it-yourself" books.
http://www.bizfilings.com/index.asp

This is more what I was expecting.
http://www.bizfilings.com/disclaimer.htm Nothing wrong with it as long as
you are willing to take the risk that if they made a legal mistake they
disclaim responsiblity for doing that. Which means you need to have
enough of a clue about what you are doing to know when you are coming into
questionable areas that might be risky. You hope its right stuff, and
obviously its in their interest to be accurate, but its still on you if
they aren't.
Thanks for any suggestions and advice!

Keeping in mind that I just skimmed the three sites, the first appears to
involve a "real" attorney, while the other two say they can't provide
legal advice. You can take it from there.



--
Diane Blackman
http://dog-play.com/
http://dog-play.com/shop2.html

"LRW" <druid@NOSPAHMcelticbear.com> wrote in message
news:S6R1c.479590$na.1155256@attbi_s04... Hey all. I'm wanting to incorporate my small Web design business. It's
basically a partnership with no real assets, and at the offset not much
income. If we could afford it, we'd hire a real lawyer in a second! But my
gosh they're expensive. I've been seeing these 3rd party companies that will file the
paperwork for you and for a little more provide you with some extras and
packages, etc. I'm really completely ignorant of all the tax, and election, and
other paperwork that would need to be submitted that they do for you. Now, I know they're all also in business to make money, I accept
that. And it's possibly worth it to me to pay a fee that's smaller than a
lawyer's fee, to someone who knows what they're doing and may also
provide me with some value-added extras. Anyone have any opinions or suggestions on the matter? Some of the places I've found are: http://www.registeringacorporation.com/index.shtml http://www.mycorporation.com/ http://www.bizfilings.com/index.asp Thanks for any suggestions and advice! Liam

Forming a corporation or limited liability company has two parts.
Part A is getting the entity formed with the state government.
That part is a clerical task. It's easy. You don't need an
attorney for that. Online filing services do a good job. How
could they not, on an easy clerical task? You could do it
yourself easilly. Buy a booklet at the bookstore on how-to. The
book will contain the forms. Make sure you buy one that is
specific to your state.

Part B of corporation formation is attorney's work. The online
services don't do that part. What's involved is (a) advising on:
whether you need a corporation or a limited liability company, how
to structure the ownership, how to accomplish what you want in
terms of keeping control or sharing control, (b) drafting a
buy-sell agreement or operating agreement that establishes what
happens if someone dies, quits, gets a divorce, goes crazy, (c)
advising on how to maintain the corporation so that you don't lose
it's isolation from liability. You can do all of that yourself
too, but it's kind of like pro se litigation - it works if you
learn how to do it.

When you evaluate the cost of having an attorney do the job, make
sure the attorney's quoted price includes Parts A and B. It
doesn't make sense to compare the attorney's charge for AB with
the online services' charge for A.

McGyver

"McGyver" <Greyprof@msn.com> wrote in message
news:c2a5cp$1ro110$1@ID-75195.news.uni-berlin.de...
--SNIP--> When you evaluate the cost of having an attorney do the job, make sure the attorney's quoted price includes Parts A and B. It doesn't make sense to compare the attorney's charge for AB with the online services' charge for A.

Thank you for the advice!!
(and TOTE@dog-play.com too)

"McGyver" <Greyprof@msn.com> wrote in message
news:c2a5cp$1ro110$1@ID-75195.news.uni-berlin.de...
--SNIP--> When you evaluate the cost of having an attorney do the job, make sure the attorney's quoted price includes Parts A and B. It doesn't make sense to compare the attorney's charge for AB with the online services' charge for A.

Thank you for the advice!!
(and TOTE@dog-play.com too)