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______________________________________________________________________ Attorneys and Counselors at Law |
Limited Liability Companies and Corporations Limited Liability Companies (LLC) are by far the most popular entity choice in recent years. The flexibility and limited liability protection offered by LLCs makes the LLC form of entity type the form of organization of choice for most businesses. LLCs offer flexibility in tax treatment, ownership structure and operations and, in Arizona at least, are not required to follow formal processes for making decisions that a corporation is required to follow. Arizona LLCs also have the added benefit of no annual filings or annual filing fees associated with other types of entities such as corporations and limited partnerships. I have seen numerous websites and local document preparation services (even some law offices) that advertise that they can form an LLC for anywhere from $100 to $400 (plus fees). While the process for completing the basic paperwork to form an LLC is pretty straight forward (see our article on How to Form a Limited Liability Company in Arizona at right), the preliminary decisions that must be made often require complex legal and tax analysis. Automated websites and document preparers are not trained nor are they authorized under Arizona law to perform the requisite analysis to make these decisions. In addition, the only people legally authorized to draft an operating agreement are licensed attorneys. In these same websites and advertising materials I see statements like "price includes a comprehensive, customized 16 page operating agreement." We draft many operating agreements and the length of the agreement depends on many factors, such as the nature of the business, tax treatment desired, if the client wants the power to automatically buy-out a co-owner if that co-owner dies and many, many other factors. When we form your LLC, we do not give you a one-size fits all canned form, but an agreement that is truly designed to fit your needs. If a person or company is including an operating agreement with a specified number of pages, it likely is not worth the paper it is printed on. You may also be pulled into a bait-and-switch where you are quoted a low fee, but then sold all the "extras" that should have been included in your service. Buyer beware! If you want a licensed attorney to analyze your situation and determine the best structure for your company and draft documents including the operating agreement that are truly designed for your specific situation, please give us a call. We will fax or email to you a questionnaire where we collect some necessary preliminary information. We will then schedule a time for you to meet or discuss via telephone your particular circumstances with an attorney licensed to practice in Arizona. Our basic fixed-fee for forming an Arizona limited liability company is $650, which includes all filling fees, delivery fees and supplies (typically about $150). The vast majority of the LLC formations we do file fall under our $650 total fixed-fee program. If for some reason your situation is so complex that additional costs will be involved, you will be informed at the first meeting (and before we charge you anything) of any additional costs for your particular situation. Please feel free to call or email us for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation. |
CAUTION! |
Would you like an experienced corporate and business attorney to form your limited liability company, corporation or partnership? Call Willmott & Associates at 602-344-0034 or email us today to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation consultation. Most LLCs are formed for the low fixed-fee of $650. |