Reduction of employment taxes is part of asset protection planning involving limited liability companies. An LLC may elect to be treated for income tax purposes as either a partnership or a Subchapter S corporation. Advisors typically suggest taxation as an S corporation in order to minimize the amount of LLC…
Landlords who lease residential or commercial property to tenants should be concerned about liability stemming from the tenant or guests of the tenant. For example, a tenant or a guest of the tenant could become injured on the property and then make a claim against the landlord. The gist of…
Florida is not a community property state. Instead, all property held by either spouse alone is considered to be separate property. This type of ownership makes Florida an equitable distribution state. This means that upon divorce, the marital assets are split according to what the judge finds to be fair…
Florida has enacted a statute specifically dealing with single member limited liability companies. The statute authorizes single member LLCs. The statute includes creditor remedies to collect a judgment from a debtor’s membership interest in the debtor’s single member LLC. Generally, a judgment creditor’s sole remedy against multi-member LLCs is limited…
I have been getting a lot of questions about what the minimum percent a second member needs to have in order for an LLC to qualify as a multi-member LLC. The purpose of forming a multi-member LLC, rather than a single-member or solely-owned LLC, is because a creditor’s exclusive remedy…
Some states, not Florida, have statutes that encourage asset protection trusts. These states’ statutes provide that if a debtor establishes an irrevocable trusts for their own benefit the assets that the debtor conveys to his trust are protected from his creditors. The trustmaker must reside or have significant assets in…
Florida debtors often form LLCs in other states because they believe the laws of the foreign state provide better asset protection in the manner of protection of single-member LLCs or more privacy for multi-member LLC ownership. Owning a membership interest in a foreign LLC can have unintended consequences as Florida…
Florida Statute 605.0503 states that a charging lien is a judgment creditor’s sole remedy against a debtor’s membership interest in a limited liability company. The statute does not explain what happens if two judgment creditors apply for a charging lien against the same LLC interest. It is not clear whether…
Some of my clients ask me whether there is an advantage to create an LLC Delaware. There may be benefits to a Delaware LLC, but the advantages are largely misunderstood. Delaware law specifically protects single member LLCs from collection remedies other than charging liens. Many people think that if they…
At least two members in a Florida LLC are required to limit creditor collection to a charging lien. Many clients who already have a single member LLC that they set up for their own business or investment have difficulty adding another member. For example, they may be unmarried or if…
