In Virginia, if the registered agent is an individual, he or she must be a member of a member-managed Virginia LLC or a manager of a manager managed limited liability company.  Or, the person can be a Virginia licensed lawyer.  In addition, the registered agent’s address must be a physical address locate in Virginia where service of process papers can be accepted during business hours.

There are some additional options if you have a legal entity as the registered agent of your LLC in Virginia.  Here, the entity must be formed in Virginia or properly registered in Virginia.  Same rules regarding physical address and availability apply.

Many LLC business owners choose to use a registered agent service for privacy reasons because the registered agent name and address is a matter of public record.  You can purchase LLC registered agent service for an affordable annual fee.

After your New York limited liability company has been formed by the state and you received a filing receipt, you need to contact the local county or city where the principal office of the LLC is located.  That locality will provide you with the names of two newspapers where you will need to publish a notice of the existence of your LLC.

These publications are used to handling these notices so most of them will provide you with a form you can use to prepare the notice for your LLC.  After the publication has been completed and it has run for the specified period of time, you will receive an affidavit of publication from each newspaper.

At this point, you will need to prepare and make a simple filing with the New York Department of State (called a Certificate of Publication) and send it along with the affidavits.  Call the Department for details on the latest form and process for sending in this final filing.

While the costs to meet this publication requirement greatly increases the costs to use a New York limited liability company, the benefits of limited liability protection and tax choices still make the LLC entity a popular choice for small business owners.

Click below to watch a video we recently made that outlines the major benefits of an LLC for operating a small business.  The limited liability company is not the most common choice for small business owners precisely because it was designed to offer them most benefits for small businesses.  Watch Now!

For those troubled businesses that operate through an asset protection vehicle like an LLC, the debts and obligations of the business are those of the limited liability company and not the business owners personally.  This general rule applies as long as the business owners did not personally agree to be liable for business obligations.

This is an important concept because in the worst case scenario when a business has no choice but to file bankruptcy, it is the legal entity that files bankruptcy not the business owners. If the same business was a sole proprietor business, then the business owner is personally responsible legally for all the debts and obligations of the business.

The exact same troubled business operating outside of an LLC format forces the business owner to file personal bankruptcy if his business is unable to handle all the business debts and obligations. A personal bankruptcy is one of the worst thngs to have on your credit record and it will affect your financial profile for many years.

If an LLC needs to file bankruptcy, the bankruptcy does not affect the financial credit of the business owners.  Remember, the LLC is a separate and independent entity.  This is another benefit that every new business owner should value when starting a business.

Small business is always worth the effort.  It is possible to build enormous amounts of wealth but it also can create problems and challenges.  Many successful entrepreneurs experienced several business failures before they made it big.  A smart business owner should always use risk management planning and asset protection methods such as setting up an LLC.

So, if you are going to start a new business, get your LLC filing completed and filed with your state.  It is really important that your limited liability company be formed prior to conducting business.  This is necessary to ensuring you have complete LLC protection offered by this legal entity.

Many motivated business owners get frustrated this time of year when they find out they need to wait 4-6 weeks for their legal entity to be organized.  Make sure that prior to purchasing an LLC formation service, ask the company about the turnaround times for the package you are buying.  Second, may sure you choose a reputable company that will form your LLC in compliance with state requirements.

New business is a great way to start a new year and to begin a journey to financial freedom but it is important you build a proper asset protection foundation with an LLC before starting your business activity.

Yes, there is nothing in the law that requires that an LLC be formed by a lawyer or other service.  A business owner can form an LLC on their own by learning about and following the legal requirements and processes required to process an LLC registration.

View the video below for steps and guidelines on how to go about doing this.  Plan on spending about 3 to 5 hours to handle this properly.  If you want to save time, The LLC Expert’s formation service only requires about 5 minutes of your time and is backed by a guarantee of compliance with your state’s LLC requirements.  Information on LLC Formation Services.

It is that time of year when many aspiring business owners find the energy and courage to take the official step of new business ownership. This is a great time to start a business not only because of strong motivation but because it is an ideal setting to start the new year by going down the path to financial freedom.

One of the first steps is to form an LLC and so if you are looking and shopping around for the right online llc formation services company, please watch this video as it will eliminate 90% of problems and issues faced by first time business owners when choosing the right company to form their limited liability companies.

Wondering whether to start an LLC for your new business?

Many think that if the business will only be owned by one person or if the business is going to be small with very little revenue, then the LLC is not required. To the contrary, this is the wrong thinking that has caused many personal liability problems for others.

Listen to this video by Amyli McDaniel which explains how a prospective business owners should assess whether he or she can benefit from the LLC protection afforded by the limited liability company.

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.

The methods for service of process to a business entity like an LLC is set forth in the general service of process rules for each state and these can vary but in all states one confirmed method is by delivering the notice to the Registered Agent of the LLC.

The LLC laws specifically created the registered agent role to serve this purpose because with a legal entity, it may sometimes be difficult to determine who the members are or which persons are managing the business sufficiently to meet other service of process notice methods. Now, you need to check your specific state’s rules.  For example, in Delaware, service of process delivered to a member is only good if that member materially participates in the management of the LLC business.

The safest route is to deliver service of process documents to the registered agent. With a registered agent service of process, you can obtain the name and address of a registered agent of any LLC formed or registered in a state by calling up the state’s corporation agency (this agency is called the Secretary of State in most states).

In addition to serving the registered agent, if you are aware of any member managers or executive officers of the LLC business, it is recommended you serve these persons as well.  This means delivering papers to them personally and having them sign confirmation receipts.

Always check with the attorney in your state for proper service of process requirements.