Does Owner of LLC Need to Sign LLC Formation Documents?

When it comes to actually “signing” llc formation documents required to form a limited liability company in a state, the laws generally do not require that a member (owner) sign the filing documents. The laws do require that an ORGANIZER sign it. So a person must sign it but that person can be an owner, a lawyer, a document filing services company agent or anyone you desire to sign them as long as it is an actual person.

Now, this question also raises another issue because I assume it is being driven by the desire for the owner of a business to keep his or her ownership private. One of the benefits of having a limited liability company in MOST states is that owners of the LLC business are not a matter of public record.

This is important to some owners. First, there may be private investors and these investors do not want to be disclosed as related to a business. Second, there are just silent partners of a business. Third there are active member managers who just do not want their ownership to be disclosed as a matter of public record.

In many states, members are not required to be disclosed in the public filing documents. But there are a handful of states that require the disclosure of names and addresses of members and managers. When this disclosure is required to be on the official formation documents, it becomes a matter of public record. In some states, there is a separate llc filing requirement to list members and managers and states vary whether they make these filings available to the public.

You will need to check with your particular state to determine its rules.

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