Forming a Limited Liability Company in California is relatively easy.  This article should give you resources to understand how the process works in California, and to use the legal forms from the California Secretary of State to form an LLC in California.

While not required, it is advised to check the availability of a company name before filing any paperwork. A free preliminary check of the availability of a name can be request by mailing the Name Availability Inquiry Letter (http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/corp/pdf/naavinquiryform.pdf) to: Secretary of State, Name Availability Unit, 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Once the name availability inquiry has been completed, a name can be reserved for a period of 60 days. A Name Reservation Request (http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/corp/pdf/naavreservform.pdf) form can be completed and mailed in to: Name Availability Unit, 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814. Attached to the form should be the $10.00 fee made payable to the Secretary of State.

Once name availability has been established, the next step is to fill out Form LLC-1 (http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/llc/forms/llc-1.pdf), Articles of Organization. The completed form, along with the $70 filing fee can be mailed to: Secretary of State, Document Filing Support Unit, P.O. Box 944228, Sacramento, CA 94244-2280, or delivered in person to the Sacramento office, 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814. If delivered in person, there is an additional $15.00 special handling fee.

California does not offer an online filing service, and therefore your forms must be mailed or submitted in person. However, there are many companies that will offer the service of filing these articles on your behalf (such as FileOnline or to use Legal Zoom to Form an LLC in 3 Steps Click Here

Annual/Biennial Statements must be filed each year. These can easily be filed online through the California Secretary of State Web site
(https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/).