If you use an online legal document service provider, be aware that the online provider cannot provide legal or financial/tax advice. Some online legal document services provide a wealth of information on their websites, allowing you the opportunity to learn more about your legal issue and help you to prepare the document on your own. However, these online services can only provide general information to help you make an informed decision and can not provide legal advice.
A lawyer can assist you with the preparation of your legal documents, and may even use a service to help file the documents, but contacting an attorney when you begin your business is a good way to develop a relationship with an attorney who can assist your business in avoiding potential trouble down the road.
The reason a small business should use an attorney as opposed to an online legal document service is that using an attorney can help with the process of starting a new business by assuring that the on-going legal requirements to maintain the corporation status are completed and maintained. Annual shareholder, director and partner meetings need to be held, and recording of minutes and election of officers must conform to state requirements. Failure to do these things can jeopardize corporate status and result in “piercing of the corporate veil” in the event of a lawsuit or other legal action, exposing corporate officers to personal liability or other legal problems.
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