3.
Re: How to form a LLC with independent partners? Jan 22, 2009 7:28 PM
in response to:
Lemontree
Lemontree, I don't claim to be an expert in this but no one else has taken a crack at it.
First thing, I think I need more information about the nature of the business relationship you intend to have with your partners.
I'll try to speculate a bit on it though and say that if you are looking to retain control of the collaborative, and that's essentially what you're going for, a collaborative with a legal entity wrapped around it, you need to specify that the LLC is member-managed, and name yourself or a close trusted person as manager and bring in the other agents as silent partners (non-voting members). The operating agreement is the most important aspect to this, you have to account for everything there. The articles can be more generic to LLC formation, but you have to be thorough and explicit about how internally the agents are to conduct themselves with respect to each other and externally the agents represent the company. Other things like benefits, ownership, profit-sharing, etc. need to be very explicit if you are looking to divide up ownership between agents. One more thing, since this will be a real estate company, be sure there is an article or subcategory that addresses the potential conflicts-of-interest between agents.
I know I'm probably missing alot, you really need to THOROUGHLY read Limited Liability Companies for Dummies and talk to a corporate attorney who will have much more insight than I do.
I wish you all the best though, I really hope you pull it together and make it work.
