Well, if you ask a lawyer, I'm sure you can anticipate the answer! Yes, of course you should have a lawyer assist you with the formation of your entity. However, there are a number of reasons for doing this that don't have anything to do with my own self interests:

When you involve an attorney in the formation of your business entity, you receive counsel and instruction that you cannot receive from LegalZoom or RocketLawyer. Forming your entity yourself will usually go one of two ways - you will do it right, but won't know what to do with it or you will do it wrong and not know it. Either way, you leave yourself open to potential liability. If you entity exists, but you haven't operated it properly, it will be deemed to be non-existent for legal purposes.

Getting professional advice now, when you form your entity, will most likely pay off even if you close your entity next month. As a consultant, you can appreciate this. I pay an accountant to do things for me that I can legally do myself, but figure I will probably not do as well. In fact, I could get myself in real trouble.

I would be happy to discuss the formation of your new entity with you and explore the best route for you to take - both for liability protection and for tax purposes. Feel free to contact me at the number or e-mail address listed below:

Riley S. Snow

Attorney

(480) 477-6311

riley@rileysnowlaw.com

A form is not a legal document. Law varies from state to state and situation to situation and advice is important to the entity – what you can do and cannot do in various states, legally. Accountants are great for tax advice and we use them all the time for that specialty area. But accountants are not attorneys, and you need legal advice, too. Also, the Sub – S raises issues if you are the only employee. Etc. etc. For no more than the legal advice relative to the importance of the deal I would always go with the document plus the legal advice. This is not a price based decision, it is a knowledge-based (and liability) world.