Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re:Cost of incorportation

[Pablo Halpern (phalpern]

> From: Rob Sandelin <robsan [at] microsoft.com>
> 
> David G Adams  wrote:
> 
> > Incorporating is a somewhat expensive
> >process, and requires overhead of filing government forms, etc.
> 
> 
> In Washington State , incorporation costs $30 and takes a two page 
> form.
..
> I am surprised the Eastern States make it harder.

Actually, its not much harder. In Mass., it costs $200 (more than $20, but 
still not much money in the scheme of things) and requires filling out a 
3-page application. It also requires that your corporation have bylaws, 
although you don't actually send the bylaws to the state. Most of the 
bylaws are boiler-plate (my business's bylaws come straight from a $14 
incorporate-yourself kit), although some cohousing-specific stuff should be 
added (such as consensus). Having a lawyer review your bylaws is probably 
the most expensive part of incorporating, but I think its well worth it if 
the corporation is going to handle more than a couple of thousand dollars 
from each member.

[About David Adam's post about Cornerstone's Partnership]:

One thing to keep in mind: once a site is identified, things move at a 
perverse speed, slow when you're impatient, fast when you need more time. 
If you're not careful, your existing legal entity could find itself signing 
for hundreds of thousands of dollars, so saying "our partnership won't be 
on the hook for much so limited vs. unlimited liability is not a big 
issue," could get you in trouble down the road. Incorporation had very few 
disadvantages over partnership for our purposes, so we saw no reason to 
have one structure early and then convert later. It also made us look good 
to banks, developers, etc.

- Pablo

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Pablo Halpern              (508) 435-5274         phalpern [at] world.std.com

New View Neighborhood Development, Acton, MA
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