Worldwide, administrative and legal bureaucracy is a big problem and a time-wasting element when dealing with different problems or deciding to start your own business. Any one of these resumes to filling forms (often, very intricate forms) and handing the filled forms to the competent administrative organ.
Not to mention when your problem is more complex and legal advice is needed. In this case, you also have to pull out a lot of money out of your wallet. LegalZoom is offering full legal services for business incorporation that walk you through properly legal forms filling, from the beginning to the end.
LegalZoom, additionally, is also offering you legal advice by putting you in direct contact with specialized attorneys in various domains.
The best part is that it will cost you less money and time if collaborating with LegalZoom, or at least that’s what they say.
LegalZoom Review – The Company
LegalZoom.com is owned by the company with the same name. LegalZoom.com, Inc ., is based out of Glendale, CA, USA and it is in business for 18 years.
The company is also registered with the Better Business Bureau, on which it is rated with A+.
However, the company received 95% negative customers reviews on Better Business Bureau.
Most of these complaints are related to additional costs for services that has not been initially asked by customers. Other complaints link to poor customer support, latency in solving customers issues, and higher costs in comparison to really reputable local legal offices – which, by the way, is on contrary to what the LegalZoom site claims.
LegalZoom – Pricing
LegalZoom is selling 3 base plans but they also offer extra services at extra costs.
In the table below you can see how much each of their plans costs and what you’ll get. (source: fitsmallbusiness.com)
| Economy | Standard | Express Gold | |
| Price | $149 | $239 | $369 |
| Preliminary corporation name clearance |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Articles of incorporation
filing |
Yes
|
Yes |
Yes |
| Official corporate seal |
No
|
Yes |
Yes |
| Priority rush service | No | No | Yes |
| Expedited Federal Tax
ID |
No
|
No |
Yes |
| Attorney advice (30-days
Trial) |
No
|
No |
Yes |
For small and medium corporations the Economic package is more than enough to start your business.
LegalZoom – The Site
LegalZoom.com is an easy to navigate on website with a lot of information presented on it and lot of content regarding business incorporation.
The website also contains all the necessary forms for establishing your own business, such as LLC forms, stock certificates, trademark registration, and confidentiality agreements. Also, bankruptcy forms are at one-click away.
However, some basic and important forms are missing, such as liens, indemnity agreement documents, and loan agreements.
The website engine is designed to ease-up the filling process of the legal forms, implementing a interview-like system. The site will ask you questions, and according to your answer will finally deliver your documents, signed, printed, and ready to be filed.
Additionally, LegalZoom website offers you personal forms, such as divorce forms (which can help you set up custody, child support, or alimony payments) and immigration forms (which are helpful for foreigners to obtain their Green Cards).
Every forms’ section has its own FAQ section to help you with the most common legal issues.
The site is also offering you the possibility to obtain legal guides, preparation services, and phone and email support.
Conclusions
In conclusion, LegalZoom is a reputable company, being registered with an A+ ranking on Better Business Bureau, despite the negative feedback from its customers.
Definitely, LegalZoom is legit and helpful in some situations. However, there are voices that say that appealing to a local legal office might be a better idea in terms of both, costs and speed.
In conclusion, you can go and give LegalZoom a try if decided to establish a small or medium corporation or if needing help in filling up the legal forms you need.
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