To start a marriage and family therapy business is an exciting step! You get to pick out your office, what you want it to look like, what you want to name it, and make other creative decisions. And then there are the more tedious parts that you need to handle as a business owner to remain compliant with legal requirements and shield yourself.
Marriage and Family Therapy (LMFT) businesses need to follow a specific procedure. This post will take you through each step involved in starting a Marriage and Family Therapy business so you can get an idea of the process.
Step 1: Get your license.
This might seem obvious, but its importance can’t be overstated. You can’t really start a Marriage and Family Therapy business until you have your license. The Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Act lays out all of the important licensing laws. 225 ILCS 55/. It requires that you must be over 21, complete a master’s or doctoral program from an accredited school, have completed a certain number of hours of work experience and supervision, have a record clear of certain (criminal) conduct, submit an application, take an exam, and pay the required fee. 225 ILCS 55/40.
If you’ve already secured your license, congratulations! It’s a heck of an accomplishment, and deserves celebration. At this point, you can also move onto the next step: starting the business.
Step 2: Filing with the Secretary of State.
You can choose a few different types of business entity when you’re starting up, primarily Sole Proprietorship, PLLC, or Professional Service Corporation, often referred to simply as Professional Corporations. However, forming a Sole Proprietorship / Partnership won’t protect you from liability for accidents or other problems that may arise. You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages to all of these business entities in our blog LLC, Corporation, Partnership: What Kind of Business Is Right for Me? For the purposes of this post and forming a Marriage and Family Therapy business, we will focus on the typically preferred methods: PLLCs and Professional Corporations.
PLLCs are formed under the Illinois Professional Limited Liability Company Act. 805 ILCS 185/. Professional Corporations are formed under the Illinois Professional Service Corporation Act. 805 ILCS 10/. Both of these laws define what you can and cannot do in your business. For example, every owner and certain types of employees have to be licensed Marriage and Family Therapists or certain related licensed professionals. 805 ILCS 185/13; 805 ILCS 10/3.6.
**Note that you cannot start operating your business or soliciting clients until you have obtained a business license, as outlined in the next step.**
Step 3: Get Your Business License.
Marriage and Family Therapy businesses are regulated by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). Because they are regulated by IDFPR, they do not usually need to obtain a separate license from Chicago (or whatever Illinois city your business is in). However, a Marriage and Family Therapy practice that has other parts not governed by IDFPR may still require a city license for those portions of the business. For a full list of professions governed by the IDFPR that do not usually need licenses from the city of Chicago, you can go to the City of Chicago’s Website.
However, while you probably won’t need a Chicago business license, you’ll still have to get a license from the IDFPR for the business. This is separate from your individual license to practice. The IDFPR Website has more information about getting a license for your PLLC or PC. We also have a step-by-step guide on how to register your business with the IDFPR here.
Step 4: Display all of your licenses and renew when necessary.
After running down all your various licenses, you will need to display them prominently in your office. 225 ILCS 15/3(i); 805 ILCS 185/15. If you have an office, you’d ideally choose somewhere where people can see them when they walk in. This applies especially for your business license.
Once you have your practice up and running, you still need to follow the rules in the Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Act, 225 ILCS 55/, and any other laws that govern your business. Two of the most important things to do are to file your annual report with the Secretary of State every year and to keep your registration with IDFPR current. Be sure to mark those on the calendar so you don’t forget.
Step 5: Run your business.
When you get through all the filing and drafting, you can finally enjoy running your own business. At this point, it’s time to grow! You should also talk to an attorney to review your patient forms and practices to help avoid legal trouble down the line.
**For more information on Professional Limited Liability Companies and the IDFPR rules, check out the following articles.**