LegalZoom LLC Review

Opening a business might seem intimidating if you don’t know where to start, and even more so when there is a threat of facing penalties and the dissolution of your business if you fail to comply with the requirements. Thankfully, LegalZoom LLC is here to help.

Here, we lay down our experience and review the company to help you decide if it is for you.

Pros

• Established brand name — LegalZoom is one of the most well-known providers for LLC formation services, especially if you have legal and compliance filings you need to complete within a deadline, so you can have better peace of mind.
• Free name availability check — You can check whether your business name is available on LegalZoom’s website.
• Efficient process — LegalZoom makes you fill out a simple questionnaire form about your business. They don’t complicate the formation process unnecessarily, making LLC formation using LegalZoom smooth and painless.
• Lifetime customer support — The customer service team is available every day. It provides information and online support until 10 pm ET on weekdays and 7 pm ET on weekends.
• 60-day satisfaction guarantee — LegalZoom LLC offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee where you can get a refund if you’re unsatisfied with their service within a month of your purchase.

Cons

• Additional charges for faster delivery — LegalZoom will charge an extra cost for expedited delivery.
• Registered agent service not included — LegalZoom does not include registered agent service in the pricing of its LLC packages so you’ll have to purchase them separately. You also have to pay for tax ID (EIN) issuance, while competitors offer this for free.

Features of LegalZoom LLC

In this section of the LegalZoom LLC review, we discuss the features they offer for the formation of your business and the unique features that help it stand out against its top competitors.

LegalZoom has been in the business of legal services since 2001, making it one of the best LLC companies among the many we see online. With all its services, you can expect a high quality of service for all legal and business operations — from forms, attorney advice, and others.

LegalZoom’s legal services, including the LLC formation services, have gained a huge following over time. The company claims to have helped more than 1.6 million entrepreneurs with their LLCs and businesses through their top-notch attorney services. Plus, their other business operations have served over 4 million customers in the past years.

As a comparison, more recently established services like the Incfile have assisted over 200,000 LLC businesses, which does make it look small compared to LegalZoom.

Strong Legal Expertise from LegalZoom

LegalZoom has wide legal knowledge and expertise in both personal and business legal matters. Their Business Advisory Plan can help you with business formation and attorney services for all types of businesses.

It’s well-known that LLC formation has many things to clear up especially in the first year to avoid issues. The Business Advisory Plan can best help during this time, especially if you need to review legal documents or tax advice.

If you’re confused between the various business entities you can form, LegalZoom includes free helpful guides you can use in its site if you like. If you’re just starting, the customer support team is also best equipped to help you understand the differences and the best option you can start with.

Selecting A Business Name

Finding the right business name and registering it on time is an important task you should work on during LLC business formation. The good thing is that LegalZoom’s legal services help you handle this step from start to end. This online legal service guides you in checking the availability of your desired business name and helps you with the registration as you form your small business.

LegalZoom makes it convenient for you to check the availability by providing a direct search option on the website. To save time, you can also find the availability of similar business names in your state to see what’s already used. Once you find one you like, you can opt to have LegalZoom help you file a registration.

LegalZoom Registered Agent Services

Even if the LLC laws may vary in your state, the majority of the states require LLCs to have registered agents if they are not incorporated in that state.

If you appoint LegalZoom as your registered agent, it receives important legal documents year after year on your behalf. This includes lawsuits, subpoenas, or official paperwork of the LLC.

They will forward these top-secret legal documents to your LLC company and never disclose it to others. While you can use any state resident of legal age to act as your registered agent over the months as you form your business, an experienced legal services enterprise is a better choice.

Even so, this isn’t a free service from LegalZoom like it is with others. It’s not part of their packages, but it comes at an additional cost that you would have to pay every year. It’s one of the things that make the price tag of this LLC service more expensive.

Preparation and Filing of Articles of Organization

The first step towards LLC formation is to start filing the articles of organization. Each state has its own requirements with its own legal forms you need need to comply with. The list of documents includes information like the name of the business, address, registered agent information, among others.

LegalZoom assists in filing all such LLC organizational paperwork. As most states require the signature of a registered agent in all such documents, the process becomes much easier. This allows you to easily navigate the new process and tedious filing procedures.

LegalZoom Assistance with Important Agreements

LegalZoom offers services to help you with LLC agreements, legal forms, and filings at an affordable cost. An important part of LegalZoom’s LLC formation services is drawing up relevant agreements with third parties or employees.

Another important agreement for an LLC is the operating agreement. LegalZoom helps LLC companies form an operating agreement that you can then customize to best fit your business. Hence, our team finds that you don’t need to start with separate partners to provide different legal tasks. This can save you money as you form your company. LegalZoom’s online legal platform serves as a one-stop solution, unlike many competitors you may find online.

Banking Resolution

While opening a business bank account, you still need to prove that you are authorized to do so. LegalZoom includes the Financial Account Authorization Letter in the LLC package for this purpose. The document they provide indicates the people authorized to open and operate the account for LLCs.

Conversion to LLC

If you already have a corporation and want to convert to an LLC business structure to streamline your business and compliance requirements, you will need to undergo a legal process [1].

In their website, LegalZoom offers services to help you file for LLC registration with the state if you are converting your business from another business structure. LegalZoom makes this process easy with fast questionnaires to get the required information they need.

Filing LLC Intellectual Property

If your LLC includes certain patents or trademarks, providers like LegalZoom can get them registered on your behalf to protect your intellectual property.

However, these services are not included with LegalZoom’s LLC packages. You will need to purchase these services separately on the website.

Strong LegalZoom Customer Support

Strong customer support is at the heart of any online service, and it’s crucial specially in the first few months. Providers like LegalZoom LLC have attorneys and agents available on call if there are issues that must be set right.

You can also email them for any issues or legal advice that you need as you form your business. Although in our experience, email may not be the best channel to use if you want to get what you pay for.

They can solve problems or questions that you may have relating to LLC formation services, document filings, or legal processes. The LegalZoom customer service and support are available 7 days a week.

Moreover, LegalZoom has long customer service hours on both weekdays and weekends, which differentiates it from other options online. Many Legalzoom reviews point this out as a key advantage in their service. It provides helpful advice to companies until up to 10 pm ET on weekdays and 7 pm ET on weekends.

LegalZoom Money-back guarantee

A unique proposition offered by LegalZoom is the satisfaction guarantee for its customers. LegalZoom offers a 100% money-back guarantee to the customers within a month of the original purchase.

The company also offers an option to replace your order if you are dissatisfied with the services. The refund amount is credited to your LegalZoom account. However, filing fees or payments already made to third-parties will not be included.

You can directly call LegalZoom’s toll-free number right on the website to request your refund or replacement order. Moreover, if your replacement order is not fulfilled within 60 days, the money will be refunded to the original payment mode.

However, our team encourages reading the terms and conditions thoroughly on LegalZoom’s site to understand whether you’re eligible.

LegalZoom Fees

If you want to form an LLC with LegalZoom, you can choose from three different packages. These are the Economy, Standard, and Express Gold packages.

Economy Package

The Economy package costs $79 and state fees. For this small fee you pay, you get name availability checks, business filing, operating agreement, articles of organization, a financial account authorization letter stating the persons authorized to open a bank account for the LLC, and a “Next Steps” guide where LegalZoom guides you through the reviews of your LLC documents before submitting them.

LegalZoom staff also conducts a personal review of your order before you can form your business. This ensures you would have the appropriate documents with accurate details. You also get access to lifetime customer support as part of the Economy package.

Standard Package

For a price of $329 and state fees, you get all the features of the Economy package plus a deluxe organizer embossed with your company name, 20 personalized company membership certificates, and an official company seal and VIP processing so that you get faster order processing.

Express Gold Package

If you opt for the Express Gold package to form your LLC, you get all the features of the Standard Package plus rush processing with the Secretary of State and express shipping. The entire business formation process would be completed within 7 to 10 business days.

The Express Gold package will cost you $349 and state fees. It’s one of the most expensive options in pricing, but it has all the things owners want for business formation, including online legal services.

LegalZoom Reviews

LegalZoom LLC reviews from its customers are generally positive. They point out the ease of doing business with LegalZoom and its extremely affordable fees compared to typical attorney fees. Customers also found the formation process to be very straightforward, easy to understand, and speedy.

Reviews also praised the professionalism of the customer support team and their expertise in being able to answer questions and offer advice.

Here are some LegalZoom review ratings across several platforms.

• ConsumerAffairs (400+ reviews) — 3.7 stars out of five
• Sitejabber (900+ reviews) — 4.2 stars out of five

Frequently Asked Questions

Is LegalZoom Good For LLC?

LegalZoom is good for LLC formation. It has a wide experience and an extensive knowledge base to offer high quality services year after year. When selecting a service, we should look for positive attributes like useful service features, customer reviews, geographic reach, pricing, and much more.

LegalZoom has a strong presence extending over several states as well as good brand value for its LLC services. Plus, LegalZoom reviews from direct customers have been positive. The wide range of services offered by LegalZoom for LLC formation is commendable and demonstrates their strong understanding of their customers’ needs.

Is LegalZoom A Legit Company?

LegalZoom is a legit company. This can be proven with its wide customer base of 1.6 million customers. It also has hundreds of customer reviews and testimonials for its LLC and other business-related services.

Moreover, LegalZoom has been in the business formation industry for over 2 decades, which speaks to the quality of its services. Users can read through the customer reviews it has accumulated over the years to find out how the business formation experience with LegalZoom is like.

How Much Does LegalZoom Charge For An LLC?

LegalZoom charges between $79 to $349 before state fees for an LLC, depending on the package chosen. It has three primary business packages, starting with its lowest offer — the Economy. The Economy package costs $79 plus state filing fees, the Standard package costs $329 plus state filing fees, and Express Gold costs $349 and state filing fees.

The state fees can differ depending on the state you’re incorporating your LLC in. You can confirm the full pricing by getting in touch with LegalZoom. The Economy package includes basic features and has a turnaround time of 30 days. The Standard package has a turnaround time of 15 business days. Express Gold is the top offering by LegalZoom and has a turnaround time of 7–10 days.

The three LLC packages may be expensive in pricing compared to other options in your area, but the work they put in makes it worth the price.

It’s still important to note other services that come at an additional cost — one of which is the federal tax ID or the EIN. If you want to start a small business, an EIN is used to prove legitimacy. You can think of the EIN as the social security number you use for your business, and it’s something used to identify you for tax purposes.

For business owners who want to save money to form a new business, another LLC formation company might work to cut the cost.

LegalZoom Review Conclusion

LegalZoom is a reputable service provider for LLC formation that is best known for its quality services. Our team finds that it can provide all the services, paperwork, and other things for starting a new business. Moreover, it also offers additional services for your ongoing business needs like intellectual property filings, a tax ID (EIN), and operating agreement services.

Its service quality is verified with hundreds of LegalZoom reviews that told a smooth and straightforward process and extremely affordable fees, which can really put business owners’ minds at ease when they form a business.