LegalZoom Review -Our #4 Pick
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LegalZoom! We’re betting you have already heard about them unless you have been living under a rock.
They have become quite a successful business and are one of the best-known online places to create legal documents. They can do everything from creating a legal business structure for your company to writing up a home rental agreement.
LegalZoom Trivia
Did you know that the company was co-founded by Robert L. Shapiro? Remember that name? In case you need a refresher course, he represented O.J. Simpson back in 1994. Yes, he co-founded LegalZoom!
With LegalZoom, you can form your business entity, and they will do most of the work for you. It will cost 85% less than what it would cost you to use the services of a traditional lawyer. (Or, probably about 5,000% less than it would cost you if you used Robert Shapiro.)
Starting Your Business In 3 Simple Steps
Here’s how simple it is:
- Complete the online questionnaire.
- LegalZoom reviews your questionnaire for consistency and completeness, prepares your documents, and files the necessary paperwork with the Secretary of State.
- When LegalZoom receives the paperwork back from the state, they send them to you, along with all of your other formation documents. You then follow easy instructions to finish the process. It is that simple!
Packages And Fees Explained
This all depends on what you want to purchase from them. We don’t like that they don’t show you the cost of each service as you answer questions. (For instance, they ask if you would like for them to get your EIN number. This costs money when they do it, and you can do it yourself for free.)
LegalZoom collects your payment from you when you place your online order. It’s up to you which state you choose to form your company in and LegalZoom will show you what your state filing fees will be.
Options When You Form Your Business Online With LegalZoom
For additional fees, LegalZoom also offers optional services to go along with their different packages.
You must file for an EIN number when you are incorporating and this is something LegalZoom can take care of for you (included in the Express Gold Package). Also, they offer preparation of the application and obtaining your Federal Tax ID.
Sure, you can take care of these services on your own, possibly for a little less or free. However, when you are first starting your operation, it is nice to have some of the detail work taken care of for you, freeing up your time to spend on other aspects of your new company.
When Choosing LegalZoom Might Be YOUR Best Option:
The one thing that makes the LegalZoom online business formation service company stand out from the competition is the fully customized forms and documents that come standard with all of their online packages.
BizFilings (our number one choice) only supplies a sample operating agreement and other required documents that you will need to customize yourself.
Better Give Me Back My Money!
They offer a 100% money back guarantee. LegalZoom offers online and phone customer support, even on weekends. They are very competitive in their rates. They make things simple by using “interview style” questions. LegalZoom is MUCH cheaper to use them than a lawyer.
How Long Does Business Formation Take?
It depends on which formation you are looking at. For example, when it comes to forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC), regular LLC formation orders normally take 20-35 business days. If you need it sooner, you can opt for LegalZoom’s Express Gold package, which shortens the completion time to 7-20 business days.
(Per LegalZoom, due to government delays, Express Gold turn-around time in Arizona is 10 business days, in Maryland, it is 14 business days, in New Hampshire, it is 25 business days, in New Mexico, it is 14 business days, and in California, it is 20 business days.)
LegalZoom’s Questionnaire
Once you decide to form a business structure with LegalZoom, you first create an account. This not only allows you to keep track of your order history but also allows you to save your questionnaire progress if you are not able to complete it all in one sitting. Simply return to LegalZoom’s website, sign back into your account, and complete your questionnaire.
As a matter of fact, if you need to change your questionnaire answers after you have made your purchase, you can do so via the account you created. This is useful if you found out that you entered erroneous information, for example.
If you have a question during the filling out of your questionnaire you can simply call them and a representative can help you as much as you need, but we wish they offered live chat.
Educational Material Available
With LegalZoom, you have access to educational information in their knowledge center that will help you with what you need to know to start your business formation, as well as an article center that has articles on many legal topics.
They also have some videos that answer questions relating to the different types of business structures.
To get access to the educational information, LegalZoom and click on “Knowledge Center” in the website footer.
Starting Your Business With LegalZoom – Final Thoughts
In conclusion, LegalZoom gives you several options, ranging from rental agreements to multiple types of business entity formation. They are there to help you should you have any questions along the way. We feel that you cannot go wrong choosing them to form your business structure or for any other legal paperwork needs you might have.
For the best customer service and ease of use, we still choose BizFilings as our number one pick.