Legal Question in Business Law in California

I hope you have not sent any money yet. It sounds like a scam, and even if it isn't, overseas transactions are difficult to enforce, for example if you have to sue this person to get your money back. Do you even know his physical address?

You do not have to be a U.S. resident to own a U.S. based business. If your business is a corporation or Limited Liability Company, you do have to have an agent for service of process in each state in which you do business. There is a company called CT Systems that acts as agent for service of process for many many companies for a modest fee. If your company uses a name other than it's registered corporate or LLC name (if any) or if it is a sole proprietorship or partnership, you must register that name with the County in each county in which you do business on a regular basis. That registration does require a physical address, though many companies just use a mail-drop service (which is not technically legal, but is almost never disputed). You also need to think about how you are going to operate a business from so far away, but it is legal.

From a legal standpoint, you are entirely able to enforce an agreement in the U.S. courts against a person in the U.S. no matter where you are or what country you are a citizen of. I spent the first seven years of my legal career representing many overseas companies in litigation in the U.S. I primarily sued U.S. companies who breached contracts with Japanese, Philippino, Chinese, Norwegean and Danish companies, as well as some cases involving Japanese automobile parts makers who sold to U.S. companies, and Japanese banks that had made trans-national loans. So I can assure you that you could sue here if you needed to. I can also assure you that suing in the U.S. is expensive, and doing it from overseas adds about 25% to the cost, just due to the inefficiencies in attorney time and telecommunications the distance causes.

Lastly, if you are going to have an agreement that would have to be enforced in the U.S., you definitely want to pay a U.S. attorney in the state in which the contract will be enforced, who has experience with international transactions and litigation, to review the contract before you sign it. Otherwise you may wind up with a contract that cannot be enforced.

I would be happy to assist you in establishing some guarentees as to the legitmacy of the transaction and of the business. As you may know, escort services are sometimes fronts for prostitution which is illegal in California, Therefore, you need to be sheilded from criminal prosecution. Contact me directly,

Before signing any documents or parting with any of your hard-earned money, hire an expert or attorney to conduct some due diligence on this entire transaction, including the background and legitimacy of the seller. You'll be glad you did.

Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D. - Mr. Franchise

Franchise Attorney