DarkLion organizes all client data around three core entities. Understanding how they relate to each other is the foundation for using the platform effectively.

The Three-Level Hierarchy

Relationship  →  the household or group (top-level)
├── Companies →  legal entities (S-Corp, LLC, Trust, 1040, etc.)
└── People    →  individuals with portal logins

Relationship

A Relationship is the top-level container — it represents a household or group. For most clients, this is their family unit (e.g., "The Ragain Family"). For business-only clients, it might be their company group (e.g., "Smith Group").

  • Billing happens at the Relationship level
  • Every Company and every Person belongs to one Relationship
  • Notes, service tier, and pipeline history are tracked here

People

People are the individuals inside a Relationship — the taxpayer, their spouse, adult children with their own accounts, etc. Each Person:

  • Can have their own client portal login
  • Has their own personal tax records (filing status, SSN, DOB)
  • Can be linked to a spouse (for MFJ filers)
  • Can have access to one or more Companies

Companies

Companies are legal business entities — S-Corps, LLCs, partnerships, trusts, or even a joint 1040 filed as an entity. Each Company:

  • Belongs to one Relationship
  • Can connect to QuickBooks Online for bookkeeping
  • Has its own document folder, pipeline cards, and workflow
  • Can have multiple People with access (e.g., both spouses see the S-Corp)
ℹ️
Real example: The Ragain Family is a Relationship. Chris Ragain and Sara Ragain are People. Ragain Holdings LLC is a Company. Both Chris and Sara have access to the Company, but each has their own portal login.

Why This Matters

Almost everything in DarkLion — documents, messages, pipelines, portals — is attached to one of these three entity types. When you upload a document, you choose whether it belongs to a Person or a Company. When you create a pipeline, you decide if it tracks Companies or People. Understanding this structure makes every other feature click into place.

💡
When in doubt: Relationship = the family/group. People = individuals who log in. Companies = business entities that file separately or have their own books.