If you're trying to be penny wise about legitimate third-party expenses like mileage and legal research, why pay $49 fee to a third party (in addition to state

If you're trying to be penny wise about legitimate third-party expenses like mileage and legal research, why pay $49 fee to a third party (in addition to state fees) to change your company’s name? You could have saved that third-party fee if you'd done it yourself through the Secretary of State's website. As an additional tip, you may be able to save some money by doing some of the legal research yourself. Google works surprisingly well for some things, as does the local public library, which may have a subscription to Lexis Nexis or Westlaw. Facebook is a great resource for family law issues. There are also free law-specific resources like nolo.com (e.g. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/small-business http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/small-business) or avvo.com.