Starting a business is exciting, but the legal foundation matters. Massingill helps entrepreneurs, professionals, investors, and small business owners form Texas LLCs, corporations, partnerships, and professional entities with clear documents, practical legal guidance, and flat fees before work begins.
Forming a company is about more than filing a certificate of formation with the Texas Secretary of State. The entity you choose affects ownership, management, taxes, liability protection, banking, contracts, future disputes, and what happens if an owner leaves or the business grows. Our Austin business formation attorneys help you understand your options and build a structure that fits the way your company will actually operate.
Whether you are forming a single-member LLC, multi-member LLC, corporation, partnership, professional entity, or real estate holding company, we help you start with the right documents in place, including company agreements, organizational resolutions, banking resolutions, EIN guidance, ownership records, and practical advice for protecting your liability shield.
Many online filing services can submit basic paperwork. But filing with the state is only the first step. A properly formed Texas business also needs internal rules that explain who owns the company, who can make decisions, how profits and losses are handled, what happens if an owner leaves, and how disputes will be resolved.
Without clear formation documents, business owners may face problems later involving ownership disagreements, unclear management authority, tax confusion, personal liability risk, banking issues, or poorly documented company records. These problems are much easier to prevent at the beginning than to fix after a dispute appears.
Massingill helps Texas business owners form companies with the documents, structure, and guidance needed to operate with confidence.
For many small businesses, a Texas limited liability company is a flexible and practical choice. LLCs can provide liability protection, simpler management, flexible tax treatment, and customizable ownership arrangements.
Our Texas LLC formation services can help with single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, member-managed LLCs, manager-managed LLCs, real estate LLCs, holding companies, and professional limited liability companies when appropriate. We also help prepare company agreements that address ownership percentages, voting rights, capital contributions, profit distributions, management authority, buyouts, and member departures.
A strong company agreement is especially important for multi-member LLCs. If two or more people are starting a business together, the agreement should clearly explain how the company will operate before money, stress, growth, or conflict tests the relationship.
An LLC is not always the right fit. Some businesses may benefit from a corporation, partnership, professional association, professional limited liability company, or other entity structure. The right choice depends on your goals, ownership structure, tax planning, investor expectations, professional licensing rules, and long-term business plans.
Our Austin business formation lawyers help clients compare entity options and coordinate with tax advisors when needed. We can also help with bylaws, shareholder agreements, partnership agreements, buy-sell provisions, ownership records, and business succession planning.
Download Massingill’s Texas Business Startup Checklist to review the key legal steps involved in forming an LLC, corporation, partnership, or professional entity in Texas.
Practical guidance for Texas entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners.
Business Formation Services
Whether you are forming an LLC, corporation, or professional entity, Massingill helps Texas business owners start with clear documents, practical guidance, and a legal structure built for the way the company will actually operate.
Corporation formation may be a good fit for Texas businesses that need a more formal ownership and management structure, plan to issue shares, bring in investors, or operate with directors, officers, and shareholders.
LLC formation is a popular choice for Texas entrepreneurs and small business owners who want liability protection, flexible management, customizable ownership terms, and practical operating documents.
Professional entity formation may be appropriate for licensed professionals, healthcare practices, medical groups, dental practices, therapists, consultants, and other regulated service providers in Texas.
Not sure which structure is right? We can help you compare LLCs, corporations, partnerships, and professional entities before you file.
Talk to a Business Formation AttorneyGet to work faster. We’ll file your state documents electronically and expedite filings as necessary.
Our packages include 90 days of unlimited counsel related to the formation of your business. Get advice from a real attorney – not a robot.
Your business is unique. So are your legal needs. We’ll tailor your documents to fit your business.
A business formation attorney can help you do more than create an entity. The goal is to build a legal structure that supports your business, protects your personal assets, and reduces the risk of future disputes.
Business owners often come to us before launching, bringing on a partner, buying real estate, signing a lease, opening a professional practice, or formalizing a business that has already started operating.
Massingill serves business formation clients in Austin, Travis County, Williamson County, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and throughout Central Texas. We help entrepreneurs, professionals, investors, and small business owners create practical legal structures for new ventures and growing companies.
If you are starting a Texas business, forming an LLC, bringing on a partner, creating a professional entity, or deciding whether your current structure still makes sense, our business formation attorneys can help you move forward with clarity.
Starting a business in Texas is exciting, but the legal foundation matters. Whether you are forming a Texas LLC, corporation, partnership, professional entity, or real estate holding company, the decisions you make at the beginning can affect ownership, management, liability protection, taxes, banking, contracts, and future disputes.
Massingill helps entrepreneurs, startups, professionals, investors, and small business owners turn a business idea into a properly formed Texas company. Our Austin business formation attorneys help clients choose the right entity, prepare formation documents, create company agreements, address ownership and management issues, and understand the legal steps needed to operate with confidence.
Filing a certificate of formation with the Texas Secretary of State is only one part of starting a business. A strong formation plan should also address who owns the company, who can make decisions, how profits and losses are handled, what happens if an owner leaves, and how the business will protect its liability shield.
If you are starting a business in Austin, Travis County, Williamson County, Round Rock, Cedar Park, or anywhere in Central Texas, our Texas business formation lawyers can help you start the right way. Contact Massingill today to discuss your LLC formation, corporation formation, partnership agreement, professional entity, or customized business formation needs.
Business Formation FAQ
Choosing the right legal structure is one of the first important decisions for a new business. These answers explain common issues involving Texas LLC formation, entity selection, Secretary of State filings, and working with a business formation attorney.
Yes. You can visit the Corporations Section of the Texas Secretary of State to learn more.
And the Internet is littered with “robots” capable of filing documents on your behalf, but these services are not a substitute for legal counsel provided by an experienced business formation attorney in Austin.
Filing formation documents with the state of Texas is merely the first step in establishing a legal entity that will meet your needs and provide the robust liability protection you probably desire.
That’s why our business formation packages include a myriad of additional documents. They’re designed to “cover all your bases” and build a foundation for success.
That is hard to say! A majority of clients opt to form limited liability companies because of their unique combination of liability protection and ease of operation. But each circumstance is different.
Some of the key factors that you may take into consideration when determining which entity to select include:
To discuss your particular situation, give us a call.
It varies. We expedite all filings and cover the associated expediting fees to speed things along. And we file all documents electronically, if possible.
This means that we usually receive answers from the Secretary of State within two business days.
Depending on the attorney’s workload, it may be possible to form your business within just a few days.
Subsequently, we will apply for an Employer ID Number from the IRS on your behalf and draft your company’s internal operating documents.
These additional steps can take anywhere from 2-5 business days to complete, depending on a variety of factors, including how quickly the client responds to inquiries.
A business lawyer is responsible for assisting companies with legal matters having to do with the day-to-day operations of the business.
Usually, Texas business attorneys ensure that everything at a company is done in compliance with applicable laws.
Whether a company lawyer is overseeing mergers and acquisitions, working on forming companies, or handling bankruptcies, every aspect of the company’s daily business comes to the attention of a business lawyer if it has a legal component.
Often, business attorneys oversee other lawyers’ work too.
For instance, a business lawyer might handle all aspects of contracts for a company but will ask an employment lawyer to look at the firm’s employment agreements.
Business lawyers are often your first point of contact whenever you face a legal issue-both when you create your company and when your company is up and running.
While some people use these terms interchangeably, there are differences between corporate lawyers and business lawyers.
Corporate lawyers handle issues relating to corporations and corporate law, including the rules, laws, and regulations governing their formation and operation.
Business lawyers have a slightly bigger universe and manage legal issues among businesses of all types.
They also interact with the people that businesses deal with, such as customers, vendors, and employees, when legal issues arise.
Business attorneys provide legal advice on how laws and regulations impact your business, as well as draft and review contracts, policies, and other day-to-day legal matters.
Many Texas small business owners choose to form a limited liability company because an LLC can provide liability protection, flexible management, and relatively simple ongoing maintenance. A corporation may make more sense for some businesses, especially if the company expects to raise outside capital, issue stock, or adopt a more formal ownership structure.
The right choice depends on tax treatment, ownership goals, management structure, investor plans, liability concerns, and the long-term strategy for the business.
Many new businesses need an Employer Identification Number, often called an EIN, from the IRS. An EIN may be required to open a business bank account, hire employees, file certain tax returns, apply for licenses, or separate business finances from personal finances.
As part of the business formation process, we can apply for an EIN on your behalf after the entity is formed.
A registered agent is the person or company designated to receive official notices, legal documents, and service of process for a Texas business entity. Texas LLCs, corporations, and many other entities must maintain a registered agent and registered office.
Choosing the right registered agent helps ensure that important legal notices are received and handled properly.
A company agreement, sometimes called an operating agreement, is an important internal document for a Texas LLC. It can address ownership, management, voting rights, profit distributions, transfers of membership interests, deadlock issues, buyouts, and what happens if an owner leaves the business.
Filing a certificate of formation creates the entity, but the company agreement helps govern how the business actually operates.
Many owners form a business entity before signing contracts, opening a business bank account, hiring employees, taking on partners, leasing commercial space, or beginning operations with meaningful liability risk.
Forming the entity early can help create separation between the owner and the business, but formation alone is not enough. Owners should also use proper contracts, maintain separate finances, follow company formalities, and keep accurate records.