Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: LLC Paper Work

There is no requirement that the paperwork be notarized.

Some warnings:

1) If you are using a DIY kit of forms, be sure they are specific to the State of Washington and be sure they were published reasonably recently.

2) Be sure you understand what you are doing.

LLCs differ from corporations in many ways, and many business people think of them as "corporations-lite". Regarding certain matters, members of an LLC have somewhat different rights from stockholders of a corporation. Other details regarding taxation, operations, and management of the company are also somewhat different.

It is also very important for you to have an operating agreement, which sets forth the rules for the company with regard to who owns what percentage of the company, how operating decisions are to be made, when and how (and whether!) one member may sell his or her interest, and much more. If you do not have an operating agreement, you can still legally have an LLC, but the operating rules of the company will become the state's statutorily established default rules. Each business is different, and the default rules seldom will meet your needs in every way.

Your DIY form kit may have an operating agreement. Just as the statutory rules probably won't meet your needs at every step, the form is not likely to do so, either.

It is very understandable that you do not want to plunk down a big chunk of money for a lawyer to do everything for you just when you are trying to get a new business off the ground. However, it might be a good idea for you to buy an hour or two of any attorney's time to help you understand what the default rules mean for your LLC, or if using a preprinted operating agreement, what the implications of the agreement are and where variations might be appropriate for you. The time to put the right rules in place is now. Once a problem comes up, the members usually don't agree about how to amend the agreement and you are stuck with what you have.