Rocket Lawyer is one of the most popular and reputable online legal services in the U.S.
The platform is best known for its extensive library of legal documents, forms, and contract templates. It’s a quick, easy, and affordable way for anyone to get legal advice from qualified attorneys.
Rocket Lawyer also provides business formation services for LLCs, C-corps, S-corps, and nonprofits in all 50 states.
Since launching in 2008, more than 20 million people have used Rocket Lawyer’s legal services. Is Rocket Lawyer right for you and your business? Continue reading to find out.
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Rocket Lawyer Business Formation Services
Rocket Lawyer offers a wide range of services for individuals and businesses alike. From estate planning to lease agreements and divorce settlements, they have legal documents and attorney services for basically any category you can think of.
For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to focus on the business formation services offered by Rocket Lawyer. These formation services can be segmented into three main categories—LLC services, incorporation services, and registered agent services.
We’ll take a closer look at each one to help you determine if Rocket Lawyer is right for you.
Rocket Lawyer LLC Services
If you’re starting an LLC and want to avoid the hefty costs associated with hiring a traditional lawyer, Rocket Lawyer is a cost-effective alternative.
Getting started is easy. Just answer a handful of simple questions about your business, and Rocket Lawyer will handle all of the paperwork for you. They’ll also take care of the LLC filing on your behalf.
Once the process is complete, you’ll be able to access the LLC documents from your Rocket Lawyer account. Hard copies will be sent to you as well.
Another benefit of using Rocket Lawyer to form your LLC is the expertise included with your service. Rocket Laywer’s LLC specialists have worked with thousands of businesses, so they’ve seen it all. If you have questions or need some extra assistance during the process, those experts are just a phone call away.
Answering the questions and completing your order online takes just a few minutes.
Choose your state of formation, pick a company name, provide basic contact information, and fill in a few other simple form fields. During this process, you’ll have the opportunity to rush your order if you need to form the LLC ASAP. Rush filing fees and processing times vary from state to state.
You can also use Rocket Lawyer to get your tax ID number (EIN). You’ll need to have one, so it makes sense just to get it now. The EIN add-on costs $59.99.
Rocket Lawyer hits you with a few upsells during the order process for your LLC. You can skip most of these. They also offer registered agent services for $149.99 per year ($111.99 with the membership discount). We’ll cover these services in greater detail shortly, but this is definitely something you’ll want to add.
The LLC formation service costs $99.99 + state fees. But you can get it for free when you sign up for a Rocket Lawyer’s premium membership.
Take a look at this sample checkout page for an LLC in Washington:
As you can see, the membership discounts will automatically be applied to your order when you sign up. The $99.99 is deducted, and the registered agent service is discounted as well.
Most people go with the membership option. It comes with other perks and legal services your business will need after the LLC is officially formed. For example, you can ask lawyers free legal questions and get free 30 minute consultations on new legal matters. These services usually start at $49.99 per question and $59.99 per consultation, so the membership offers a tremendous value to business owners.
Rocket Lawyer should be a top consideration for anyone who wants a fast and affordable way to form an LLC online at the end of the day.
Rocket Lawyer Incorporation Services
In addition to LLCs, you can also use Rocket Lawyer to form an S corporation, C corporation, or nonprofit corporation.
The incorporation services are nearly identical to the LLC services. You’ll answer a few simple questions about your business to get started. The questions will look slightly different for corporations, but it’s still the same general information.
You’ll also have access to the incorporation experts at Rocket Lawyer if you have questions or need some extra help during the signup process. It’s normal to need guidance, especially if you’ve never done this before. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of their expertise.
Rocket Lawyer will help you get organized with the financial aspect of your new corporation as well. You can provide the initial number of stocks you want to issue and those stocks’ initial values. You’ll then add information about your corporation’s shareholders, including their equity percentage and personal details. Rocket Lawyer will use that information accordingly on your incorporation documents.
You can include information about additional directors of the corporation during the order process, too.
Rocket Lawyer can also handle your S-corp election form while filing your documents. This extra incorporation service costs $69. The fee is definitely worth the convenience if you want to be taxed as an S corporation.
If you want your incorporation documents filed immediately, you have to pay extra to expedite the process. The exact fee and processing times will vary depending on your state of formation.
For example, California’s standard processing time is 5-7 business days ($120). But you can expedite the order for 1-2 business days and pay $560. Is it really worth more than 4.5x the standard fee? That’s for you to decide.
You can add an EIN (tax ID) to your order for $59.99. Getting this on your own directly from the IRS is free, but it is easier to just have Rocket Lawyer do it for you and get everything in one place.
Rocket Lawyer also offers a customized “corporate kit” for new corporations. For $99, you’ll get:
- Stock certificates
- Custom embossed binder with corporation name and matching clip case
- Custom corporate seal
- Sample business forms
This is a “nice-to-have” item but not a requirement to incorporate.
The final step of the process is deciding whether to use Rocket Lawyer as your registered agent. This additional service costs $149.99 per year ($111.99 for members).
Again, you can avoid the $99 incorporation service fee by signing up for a Rocket Lawyer premium membership.
Between the quick setup, low cost, and ongoing benefits, Rocket Lawyer’s incorporation services should definitely be considered if you’re ready to incorporate.
Rocket Lawyer Registered Agent Services
Rocket Lawyer provides registered agent services in all 50 states. If you’re using them to form an LLC or corporation, adding this service is a no-brainer.
Your business needs a registered agent, and this is definitely something you don’t want to do on your own.
Here’s a brief explanation of what is included as part of these services:
- Keep your personal information private (the RA will be used for public records)
- Official point of contact for legal and tax notifications
- Online access to legal notices
- Fast email notifications
- Acceptance and notice for any service of process
- Compliance ensured
The service costs $149.99 per year. You can get it for the discounted rate of $111.99 with a Rocket Lawyer premium membership.
If you’re using Rocket Lawyer to form your business, I strongly recommend using the Registered Agent service as well.
Overall Pricing and Value
Rocket Lawyer’s pricing structure is a bit unique compared to other similar services on the market today. In addition to the standalone services, they offer a premium membership, where members have access to discounts and freebies.
Let’s take a closer look at what premier members get for $39.99 per month:
- Free business formation (for new members, 25% off thereafter)
- 25% off registered agent services (normally $149.99)
- Free legal documents (normally $39.99 per document)
- Free document defense (normally $9.99 per document)
- Free legal questions (normally $49.99 per question)
- Free 30 minute legal consultations (normally $59.99 per consultation)
- Up to 40% off Rocket Lawyer on-call attorneys
The membership is also free to try for seven days.
In short, you can get the business formation cost waived (excluding state fees) when you sign up for Rocket Lawyer Premium. If you’re planning on using any additional services after your initial business formation, the membership cost pays for itself pretty quickly, especially for legal documents and consultations.
But if you just want to use Rocket Lawyer for the business formation package and never plan on using the other services, you probably don’t need the membership.
User Experience
Using Rocket Lawyer to form your business is incredibly straightforward. I went through the process several times for different entity types, states, and scenarios. It never took more than five minutes to answer the questions.
Once you complete the signup forms, just sit back and relax while Rocket Lawyer handles the rest.
All of your LLC or incorporation documents will be available online for you to access and download. Rocket Lawyer will also send you a hard copy of those documents in the mail.
Creating legal documents using the templates provided by Rocket Lawyer is a breeze, too. They have contracts and documents for everything, which is extremely useful for any business owner.
They also recently came out with a new feature, RocketSign, that offers electronic signatures on documents from anywhere.
The electronic signature capabilities won’t make or break your decision to use Rocket Lawyer for business formation, but these extra perks definitely add value if you’re on the fence.
Customer Support
Rocket Lawyer’s support team is exceptional. I love the fact that you can call them if you need help during the signup process or at any other point.
It’s common for new business owners to have questions as they are forming an LLC or incorporating. The experts at Rocket Lawyer can put your mind at ease.
Representatives are available via phone or live chat from 6 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday.
With a Rocket Lawyer membership, you’ll also get free 30-minute legal attorney consultations for every new legal matter. If you just have a quick legal question, you can ask a Rocket Lawyer attorney for free as well.
Final Verdict
Do we recommend Rocket Lawyer? Absolutely.
It’s an excellent option for anyone that wants to form an LLC or corporation. They also provide registered agent services, legal documents, attorney consultations, electronic signature capabilities, and tons of other useful online legal services.
Rocket Lawyer’s reputation and reliability speak for itself with 12+ years of experience, and more than 20 million clients served.
You can quickly and easily become a Rocket Lawyer premium member to form your business for free and benefit from great discounts on other services.