Small Business Attorney in Dracut, MA
Business law
for the people doing the work.
The paperwork that quietly keeps you running
Skipping it is cheap right up until the week it is very expensive.
We represent contractors, restaurants, landlords, medical and dental practices, trades, and family businesses across the Merrimack Valley — the kind of company where the owner is also the estimator, the bookkeeper, and the person who answers the phone at seven in the evening.
The pattern we see over and over: two partners start something on a handshake, it works, and five years later one of them wants out, or dies, or stops showing up, and there is nothing on paper that says what happens next. The document that would have prevented the whole dispute costs a fraction of the litigation that follows it.
Where the work is predictable — a formation, a standard contract, a lease review — we quote a flat fee. Where it is not, we tell you that up front.
What we handle
From the day you form the company through the day you sell it.
- 01Entity formationLLC, S-corp, C-corp, and professional corporations
- 02Operating agreementsAnd shareholder agreements
- 03Commercial contractsDrafting, review, and negotiation
- 04Commercial leasesFor landlords and tenants
- 05Buy-sell agreementsWhat happens when a partner leaves, dies, or divorces
- 06Business sales & purchasesAsset and stock deals, due diligence, closing
- 07Employment agreementsAnd independent contractor classification
- 08Non-competes & confidentialityDrafted to Massachusetts standards
- 09Commercial real estatePurchases, leases, and financing
- 10Succession planningHanding the business to the next generation
- 11CollectionsGetting paid by customers who have stopped paying
- 12DissolutionWinding up cleanly
Choosing an entity in Massachusetts
The right entity depends on how many owners there are, whether you have employees, how you want to be taxed, and what kind of liability the work carries. For most single-owner and family businesses in Massachusetts, the practical choice is between an LLC and an S-corporation, and the deciding factor is more often self-employment tax treatment than liability.
One local wrinkle worth knowing before you decide: Massachusetts charges among the highest LLC fees in the country — currently $500 to file the certificate of organization and $500 every year for the annual report. That is a real recurring cost for a small operation, and it sometimes tips the analysis toward a corporation.
Forming the entity is the easy part, and it is not the part that protects you. The protection comes from what you do afterward: keeping business and personal money genuinely separate, signing contracts in the company's name rather than your own, carrying the right insurance, and keeping the operating agreement current. We walk through all of that at formation.
Succession and exit
Every owner leaves eventually — by sale, by retirement, or unexpectedly. The businesses that survive that transition are the ones that wrote down what would happen before it did.
A buy-sell agreement fixes the terms in advance: who may buy a departing owner's interest, how it will be valued, and how it will be funded — often with life insurance so the surviving owners are not forced to sell the business to pay the estate. For family businesses, this is where business law and estate planning stop being separate subjects, which is one advantage of having both handled in the same office.
If you are selling, we handle the letter of intent, the diligence, the asset or stock purchase agreement, and the closing — including the real estate, when the building goes with the business.
Related
Questions we get asked
LLC or S-corp — which should I choose?
It depends on your income, whether you have partners, and how you want to handle self-employment tax. An LLC is simpler to run and more flexible in how profits are split. An S-corporation can reduce self-employment tax once profits are consistently well above a reasonable salary, at the cost of payroll and more formality. We work it through with your accountant rather than guessing at the tax side.
What does it cost to form an LLC in Massachusetts?
The Commonwealth's filing fee for a certificate of organization is currently $500, and the annual report is another $500 each year — among the highest in the country. Our fee for forming the entity and drafting an operating agreement is separate and quoted flat.
Do I really need an operating agreement if I am the only owner?
Yes, and for a reason single-member owners often miss: the operating agreement is part of how you demonstrate the LLC is a real, separate entity. Without that separation, a creditor arguing to pierce the veil has an easier case. It also settles what happens to the business if you die or become incapacitated.
Are non-compete agreements enforceable in Massachusetts?
Sometimes, and the rules tightened considerably under the 2018 noncompetition statute — there are notice requirements, limits on duration, a garden-leave or other consideration requirement, and categories of workers who cannot be bound at all. A non-compete copied from an out-of-state template is often worth nothing here. Non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements are generally easier to enforce.
A customer will not pay. What are my options?
Usually a demand letter first — a formal one from an attorney resolves more invoices than people expect. If that fails, the route depends on the amount: small claims for modest sums, District Court or Superior Court above that. Where the debt arises from unfair or deceptive business conduct, Chapter 93A may allow multiple damages and attorney's fees, which changes the negotiation considerably.
Do I need a buy-sell agreement?
If a business has more than one owner, a buy-sell agreement settles in advance what happens when an owner leaves, dies, or becomes disabled.
Can you review a commercial lease?
Yes. We review and negotiate commercial leases for small businesses.
General information about Massachusetts law, current as of publication — not legal advice, and not a substitute for talking through your own circumstances with an attorney. Reading this page does not create an attorney–client relationship.
When you're ready,
we'll take it from here.
Free initial consultations. We'll listen first, then lay out a plan in plain language.