anyone use legalzoom.com to start their entity?

[Ljdub]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? california

since all these attorneys are pretty pricey i am considering giving legalzoom a chance before i decide to pay these attorneys to do it...anyone take this route to do it??...is it easy enough for someone that doesn't have much knowledge in this particular field to do...basically could a dummy do it?

[seniorjudge]

I have no experience with that site.

However, I do know that you should have a lawyer help you.

[DStaub]

Since I am an attorney myself, I have never used legalzoom, but L would caution you that in my experience dealing with the aftermath of clients who used a filing service to set up their entity, you get NO advice, just assistance filling out and submitting the forms.

Assuming that my experience is pretty standard, my advice to anyone would be:

1. If you thoroughly understand the pros and cons of the various entities, then filling out the forms is a relatively simple process. You should do it yourself and save the cost of using a third party at all.

2. If you DON'T thoroughly understand the pros and cons of the various entities, GET A LAWYER. Perhaps it will cost you a little more up front (though you can shop around and find lawyers willing to set up entities priced very competitively with the non-lawyer filing companies), but it will probably save you money in the long run.