Florida has passed a statute that specifically addresses single-member limited liability companies. The statute allows single-member LLCs. Creditor remedies are available to recover a judgment from the debtor’s membership interest within the single member LLC.
A charging order is the only remedy a judgment creditor has against multi-member LLCs. A charging order is a lien on a judgment debtor’s transferable interests and requires that the limited liability company pay the judgment creditor any distributions that would otherwise be paid to the judgment debtor. “Transferable interest” is the debtor’s share in LLC profits and distributions. The creditor is limited to the only remedy of the charging order.
If the LLC only has one member and the debtor is the sole owner of the LLC’s single-member LLC then the statute gives creditors additional remedies provided the creditor can first establish that a charging order won’t likely satisfy the full judgment within a reasonable period. According to the statute, the court can order the sale of the limited liability interest pursuant to a foreclosure sale. The creditor can then take all LLC assets, including LLC bank accounts if it buys the debtor’s 100% membership interest at foreclosure.
Single member LLCs do not provide asset protection in Florida. However, single-member LLCs are protected by other states. These states also provide that the charging order is an exclusive remedy for all LLC membership interests, including single-member LLC membership.
An LLC must have at least two members to protect Florida assets. Members do not need to be individuals and they don’t have to share equal membership interests. A Florida LLC may have a second member made up of certain types of trust or business entities.
This post was written by Trey Wright, one of the best bankruptcy lawyers in Tallahassee! Trey is one of the founding partners of https://brunerwright.com/, specializing in bankruptcy law, estate planning, and business litigation.
The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This website contains links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser; the ABA and its members do not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.