Corporate Law Intake Forms & Client Questionnaires

Entity Formation Starts with the Right Questions

The most common sentence in corporate law practice is "I want to set up an LLC," and the most common mistake is treating that request as a simple filing. A client who walks in wanting an LLC might actually need an S-corp election for tax purposes, might have three partners with unequal capital contributions who need a detailed operating agreement, or might be operating in a state where a professional limited liability company is required for their licensed occupation. The intake is where you figure out which entity structure actually fits the client's situation. These fillable PDF corporate law intake forms are designed by a licensed attorney to capture the information you need before you file a single document with the Secretary of State.

LLC vs. S-Corp vs. C-Corp: What the Intake Must Capture

Entity selection depends on facts that only a thorough intake can surface. How many owners? What are their respective capital contributions, and are any contributing services instead of cash? Is the business generating pass-through income that would benefit from an S-corp election to reduce self-employment tax, or does the client plan to retain earnings and reinvest, making a C-corp's flat 21% rate more attractive? Are any of the owners non-U.S. citizens or entities, which would disqualify the S-corp election entirely? Does the client need multiple classes of stock for future investors? The intake form needs to capture the number of members or shareholders, their ownership percentages, the nature of each person's contribution, the client's existing tax situation (sole proprietorship, partnership, or nothing at all), and whether there is an existing EIN or state registration. For the client who has been operating as a sole proprietorship for five years and now wants liability protection, you also need to document existing contracts, leases, bank accounts, and vendor relationships that will need to be assigned or transferred to the new entity.

Operating Agreements, Bylaws, and Governance

The formation filing is the easy part. The operating agreement or bylaws are where the real legal work happens, and the intake drives every material provision. For a multi-member LLC, the intake must capture how profits and losses will be allocated (pro rata by ownership, or some special allocation), how distributions will be made and when, what happens when a member wants to leave (right of first refusal, put/call options, formula-based buyout), what constitutes a major decision requiring unanimous consent versus a simple majority, and who serves as the managing member with day-to-day authority. Buy-sell provisions need to address death, disability, divorce, and voluntary withdrawal. Capital call provisions need to specify what happens if a member cannot or will not contribute additional capital. For corporations, you need the number of authorized shares, par value, whether to authorize preferred stock, board composition, officer titles, and indemnification provisions. Our questionnaire walks the client through these governance questions in plain language before the drafting begins.

Ongoing Compliance and Corporate Maintenance

Entity formation without ongoing compliance is a liability shield waiting to be pierced. The intake for an existing business that comes in for corporate maintenance needs to capture the state of formation, all states where the entity is registered to do business (foreign qualifications), the date of the last annual report filing, whether franchise taxes are current, the status of the corporate minute book, and whether annual meeting minutes have been maintained. For clients who formed their LLC online three years ago and have never adopted an operating agreement, never obtained an EIN, and have been commingling personal and business funds, the intake captures the current state of non-compliance so you can build a remediation plan. Capitalization tables for corporations with multiple rounds of investment, stock option plans, and convertible notes require detailed ownership history that must be reconstructed from the client's records. The intake form is the starting point for that reconstruction.

Real Scenarios That Drive the Intake Design

Consider the three partners who each put in different amounts: Partner A contributed $100,000 in cash, Partner B contributed equipment valued at $50,000, and Partner C is contributing sweat equity with no cash investment but will run daily operations. Without a detailed intake capturing these contributions and the partners' expectations about profit splits, voting rights, and exit terms, you will draft an operating agreement that creates more disputes than it prevents. Or consider the existing sole proprietor who has been operating a successful contracting business for eight years: she has a commercial lease in her personal name, three vehicles titled personally but used for business, accounts receivable of $200,000, and a pending lawsuit from a former customer. The intake for her entity formation needs to capture every asset, liability, and contractual obligation that will be affected by the conversion, plus the pending litigation exposure that might make the timing of formation strategically significant.

Our Corporate Law Intake Form & Client Questionnaire set is available for $19.99 (complete set), $14.99 (intake form only), or $9.99 (client questionnaire only). Every form is a fillable PDF designed by a licensed attorney who handles entity formation and corporate governance matters.