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hi everyone i'm attorney aidan durham with 180 law co in colorado and welcome back to all up in your business on this episode of all up in your business we're going to talk about llc management i'm going to tell you guys what it means to be a member managed llc or a manager managed llc why you would pick one over the other and how you can change it if you initially set it up wrong but first don't forget to like subscribe and share and check the description for links to additional information and resources including my free downloadable guide on how to pay yourself in a single member llc all right so one of the benefits of operating as an llc as opposed to say a corporation is that llc's can be very flexible and customizable when it comes to structuring how the llc is going to be managed and operated before we really get into it i want to remind you all that every state is different the forms used to form an llc will be different for every state even though they typically contain a lot of the same kinds of information and while the general principles that i'm going to be talking about do apply to all llcs the exact laws and statutes are going to be different in every state so in most states when you're forming an llc you will need to indicate on the articles of organization or whatever the other term is used not every state calls it articles of organization you'll need to indicate if the llc will be managed by the members or managed by managers the primary difference between a member managed llc and a manager managed llc has to do with who can act as an agent of the llc and who has authority to bind legally bind the llc the llc is a legally recognized being which can sign contracts and enter into legally binding transactions with other parties but since the llc isn't a person who has the actual ability to sign contracts or engage in conversations about potential business transactions the llc needs some humans who can act on its behalf and that's where the members or managers come into play in a nutshell in a member managed llc the members will be actively involved in the day-to-day operations decision making and overall running the business in a manager managed llc the members will elect one or more managers who will be responsible for most of the business operations decision making and day-to-day running of the business the members will be more like silent partners who typically only get to weigh in on major decisions that affect the llc in colorado this is what our statutes say about it if the articles of organization provide that management of the llc is vested in the managers then a member is not an agent of the llc and has no authority to bind the llc solely by virtue of being a member and each manager is an agent of the llc and can sign documents on behalf of the llc and can legally bind it if the articles of organization provide that management of the llc is vested in the members then each member is an agent of the llc and can sign documents in the name of the llc and legally bind the llc so in a member managed llc the members solely by virtue of being members are authorized to act on behalf of the llc whereas in a manager managed llc only the managers are authorized to act behalf on behalf of the llc the members of the llc are not automatically given that authority unless they're also managers but making your llc member managed or manager managed doesn't just affect who can act on behalf of the llc it also affects what duties are owed to the llc and by whom by default llc members or managers owe certain duties to the llc itself and to the other members the members of a member managed llc and managers in a manager managed llc owe a fiduciary duty to the llc in some states these duties can be revised broadened or eliminated in the llc's operating agreement but without that very generally speaking the members or managers have to act in the best interest of the llc at all times when they're carrying out their duties and obligations in a member-managed llc all of the members owe a duty of care and duty of loyalty to the llc if a member breaches those duties by for example engaging in a competing business the member could be personally liable to the llc and the other members as a result of that breach in a manager-managed llc it's typically only the managers who owe that duty of care or duty of loyalty to the llc the members aren't going to be bound by these fiduciary duties solely by virtue of being a member unless they're also managers the process for electing and removing managers will depend on your state's laws and the llc's operating agreement most states will require either majority or unanimous vote of the members to elect remove or replace a manager but just like with those fiduciary duties you can change those requirements in the llc's operating agreement i think it's also important to mention that you can be both a member and a manager unless the state laws or the operating agreement prohibit it a member can be elected manager of a manager managed llc so how do you know which is right for your llc member managed or manager managed of course it depends on your specific situation generally speaking in a single member llc member managed is going to make the most sense since there's only one member to begin with we're assuming that one member is going to be actively involved in the business so it makes most sense to have it be member managed you certainly can do manager managed as a single member llc there's nothing inherently wrong with that but in that case the single member has to then elect herself as the llc manager again that's fine to do but what's the point if the one member ultimately wants to be the one managing the business and acting on behalf of the llc then it makes sense to just structure it as a member managed llc in multiple member llc's member managed is best if all of the members want to have an active involvement in the businesses operations again this makes most sense if all the members want to be actively involved there's no point in electing managers if all of the members want to be managers but let's say instead that you have a member who does not want to be really involved in the day-to-day operations maybe you have some folks that just want to invest some money into the business and see a return on their investment they don't particularly care how it gets there that would be a situation more suitable for a manager managed structure let's say it's you and two other member investors the three of you would all be members and can elect you as the manager it's important that you understand and recognize the difference before you form your llc everything thereafter including the operating agreement who can sign contracts on behalf of the llc who needs to consent to different actions of the llc everything will be very different from member managed llc versus a manager managed so a big question that i get asked pretty frequently is what do i do if i originally formed my llc one way but realized i did it wrong what if you're a single member llc and you accidentally checked that manager managed box on the art
Thanks for your comment Clayton Hojnacki, have a nice day.
- Gerardo Kiili, Staff Member
are you thinking about setting up an llc but aren't sure whether to choose manager managed or member managed for your management style well stay tuned because in today's video we're gonna break it all down for you everything you need to know to make the right choice for your llc let's do this hey there my name is jim hart i'm the founding attorney here at hawthorne law where we help you the online business owner get your legal house in order so you can focus on what you do best and that is building a business that truly matters today we're talking to you about the differences between member managed and manager managed llc's if you are an online business owner who is thinking about forming an llc or maybe you already have formed an llc then chances are you're a little mystified by the idea of forming a member managed versus a manager managed llc not quite sure what the differences are not quite sure if you made the right decision and are really wondering whether the choice that you made is right for your online business now this could be you could be an online coach you could be a course creator you could be an affiliate marketer you could be selling e-commerce products you could be a creator on youtube just like i am whatever it is that you might be doing this is a big serious decision that you need to make when it comes time to form your llc and why can't you figure this stuff out well it's pretty simple really it's because it's complicated it's hard to understand and for most people that aren't lawyers they really just don't know where to start in terms of getting this information other than spending hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars hiring a lawyer to help you and if you mess this step up then you run the risk of getting your corporate veil pierced and there's a whole bunch of bad stuff that can happen if that were to happen you put your personal assets at risk if you were to get sued or if your business were to get sued and it's just really something you don't want to ever deal with so in today's video i want to talk to you about the difference between a member managed llc and a manager managed llc and help you figure out which one might be better for you and your business structure for your online business assuming that you formed are thinking about forming an llc for your online business now before we get into the differences between a member managed llc on the one hand and a manager managed llc on the other i want to tell you that the choice you make when it comes to this decision is really going to depend in large part on the type of business you're running how many members you have in the llc and a lot of other factors that are somewhat beyond the scope of this video but in a nutshell here's the difference a member managed llc is exactly what it sounds like it is an llc that is managed by the members so whether you have one member or 50 members they're all going to have an equal say and equal vote in the management of the llc and what this means is that if you want to do anything with regards to your llc any types of decisions you want to make whether it means switching into a new business area or investing in some software or buying some property or assets for the business or moving to a new business location or anything like that you have to have consensus with all of the members of your llc now if it's just you and you're a single member llc this isn't going to be such a hard thing because you just have a meeting with yourself you decide that's what you want to do and you go ahead and make the change but if you have two three four five ten people that are all members of the same llc you have to get a consensus between everyone before making any major decisions related to the management of your llc on the other hand a manager managed llc means that you have one person or entity that serves as the manager of your llc and they're the ones that are going to make all the decisions so this is a really great option if you are forming an llc where you might be working with somebody else who's going to be providing a lot of capital for the llc but you're the one that's going to be doing all the sweat equity and controlling the operations of the business so the other person might just want to give you some money and have you manage the business and they might want to have a very passive role versus you're the one who's going to be taking that money investing it and building the business with existing systems that you might have from from your prior experience but maybe you just don't have the capital to build the business and in that situation you could serve as a member and the manager and you could control all the day-to-day operations of the business the other situation where a manager managed llc might make a lot of sense maybe you're a solopreneur right now but you intend to bring in a lot of other members for your llc in which case you want to still retain that control over the llc so you would want to be the manager or let's say for estate planning purposes you may want to give away some of the interest in the llc to your children or to a spouse or to someone else and you still want to retain control in those situations a manager managed llc is going to be the way to go now here in north carolina where i practice law the default provision in the llc act is a manager managed llc so you can be a solopreneur and you can be a manager managed llc or you can be a member managed llc it doesn't really matter if you're a solopreneur where it does matter is when you start to have partners and other people involved in the day-to-day operations of the llc if you're the one that wants to retain all the control over how the llc is managed on a day-to-day basis then a manager managed llc may be the right way to go now there are some other considerations that you need to be aware of when deciding between a member managed and a manager managed llc and some of them might be the fact if you're looking to form an llc that's going to provide some level of anonymity to you or to the members of your llc then a manager managed llc may be the way to go again that's somewhat beyond the scope of this video also if you want some more credibility when you're dealing with with other vendors or banks or people that you might be purchasing assets from in the name of the llc then maybe a manager managed llc might be the way to go in addition there's also liability considerations when it comes to choosing a member managed llc versus a manager managed llc and if if run correctly the manager managed llc may be more difficult to pierce that corporate veil than a member managed llc if you'd like to learn more about llc's and the different mistakes people make when forming their llc's here's another video i've done right here i'll look forward to seeing the next video have a great day folks we'll see you soon
Thanks Annett your participation is very much appreciated
- Gerardo Kiili
About the author
I've studied jealousy sociology at Olivet College in Olivet and I am an expert in operations research. I usually feel pleased. My previous job was priest I held this position for 31 years, I love talking about cosplaying and falconry. Huge fan of Billy Porter I practice pommel horse and collect baseball cards.
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