Do tou pay monthly Lawyer/LLC fees?

Question

Hey guys, I currently work with Royal Legal Solutions, out of Texas, to set up my LLCs and deed properties into them. I’m charged a monthly fee to “maintain” them and $550 to deed the properties into each LLC when I purchase a new one. Does anyone else work with them or pay monthly fees to their attorneys like this? Is this normal? They do the paperwork filing each year and are available to answer any of my questions throughout the year, but I’m wondering if it’s worth paying that much when I could probably do it myself (file the paperwork and figure out how to deed a property to the LLC). Some cons to it are that my LLC is in Texas and I am not, so not sure if that would be an issue. Also, they act as my registered agent so I would have to probably switch that to myself but I’m not sure the process even of getting things switched. Just looking for advice as to if this kind of service is worth it when it seems like all they are doing is feeding properties into my LLC and creating new ones if I tell them too. Seems like just some paperwork I can learn to do but any help is appreciated. I know things like this have to be done right and it’s best to have a lawyer involved but not sure about the monthly fee.

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

It's not that complex. Why would you pay someone to do the same thing over and over, that takes so little time to do. The process can be done, once you know how (and after the first few that should be the case), by someone you hire in office as an add on. You don't file every month, just once a year.

Cheryl Dopp · Answer

It depends on if you want/need anonymity. A typical registered agent fee (LLC in another state, which, at minimum usually requires a local address (meaning in that state) will be $50 - $100 annually. But you need to register the LLC in each state you intend to operate in. Ok, maybe not initially, but if the name is taken and you have a lease between your tenant and the entity, that entity needs to be registered in the state it is operating in in order to evict the tenant, sue a contractor etc. Or was your plan to write your leases between tenant and you personally? And is your intent to deed each property into same LLC (not advised because a successful suit against that one LLC gives access to all your assets). Typically, these strategies by Royal and Anderson involve having local operations and bank accounts that flow to some protected parent and each property held in an LLC in its respective state. My use case on the value of titling into local LLC comes from NJ. NJ is a terrible state to be a landlord in. If your tenant does not throw out trash correctly or angers a neighbor, they ticket the person who the property is titled to. If that is an LLC it needs to be registered in NJ. You still have to go to court, and they require that you hire a local lawyer, but at least if the ticket is not resolved or someone misses a court date or notice gets mailed to wrong address, you don't end up with a warrant for your arrest under your name impacting background checks etc just because your tenant did not recycle properly. Just one example and you may not have problems where you invest, but just letting you know that if anonymity was your goal and its going to get a bit complicated, you are essentially paying $600 per year unlimited entities registered agent and they make sure it is set up right and titled properly, it could be worth it. Just my 2 cents.

Carl C. · Answer

You can do this yourself. There's not that much to it. IMO, not worth a monthly fee.

Phillip Scalise · Answer

@Joe Villeneuve thanks Joe. That’s what I was thinking. This is what the lawyer told me when I asked exactly what the $50 is paying for:

“This is what is covered in $49 monthly Family Office.

This allows our firm to not only service your products yearly but provides a legal concierge service to you so that we may maintain an ongoing relationship.

Business Address: We'll act as your local business address to receive mail from the Texas Secretary of State, etc...

Franchise Tax Filing: We file your annual franchise taxes.

Nominee Trustee Service: Scott can act as a nominee trustee to maintain your anonymity.

Bi-Annual Review of your Estate Plan: For any necessary updates (you should update every time you buy or sell a major asset).

Bi-Annual Review of Operations: We review your holdings and compliance twice a year to ensure your “entity” status is maintained.

Legal Support: You can call or email us anytime to connect with a lawyer about any questions you have related to your asset protection plan.”

Thinking I could probably figure this out myself and find out how to keep my LLC in Texas and file with the state there regardless of where I’m living. The only thing is, I’ll be buying properties all over the country, so I’m not sure how difficult it is to deed a property to an LLC in Texas when that property is out of state.

Do tou pay monthly Lawyer/LLC fees?

Do tou pay monthly Lawyer/LLC fees?

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