Miscellaneous Business Associations Topics Outline
Table of Contents
Very often, in dealing with business associations, family
law comes up in a big way, especially in the areas of property and
divorce. In a common law jurisdiction,
like
Upon death, in most common law states, the surviving spouse
can get a forced share of the other
spouse’s property. It will range from
1/3 to ½. Study each state’s statutes
carefully. In
Suppose the rich lady marries the poor guy and there’s no
prenuptial agreement and that contrary to actuarial predictions, the poor young
guy dies well before the rich old lady.
Is there any claim by the heirs of the poor young guy? No, because in the common law system, we say
that the potential interest of the
other spouse that would rise to fruition if he outlives her is an inchoate expectancy. Thus, if that spouse dies earlier, nothing of the wife’s property passes
under his will.
Consider the “Cat in the Hatt”
situation. Suppose there had been no
prenuptial agreement. What rights in management of the company would Hatt have had? If
we’re in a common law jurisdiction without a prenuptial agreement, and the
property was titled in her name then he would have no management rights. But
what if she took dividends from her funeral home business to start a new
funeral home company, taking title in her own name? That would be marital property in most jurisdictions. But, since it’s titled in her name and it
doesn’t involve land, she would have the sole management power over that new
business.
How about some really tough hypos? Let’s say they they’re in a state with a
heavy homestead statute. She takes her money and buys a homestead in
her own name. She then wants to
contribute this homestead to a third corporation where she will own all of the
stock. How many signatures are needed on
the deed of the property in her name to the corporation? In most states, having homestead statutes,
community property or common law, there will need to be two signatures.
Suppose the lady takes money and buys a farm that is not a homestead, and after a few years
she wants to form a fourth
corporation, contributing the land. In
If the lady owns stock in a company in a common law state
and the stock is in her own name, and she’s the only shareholder, how many
signatures do you need on the Sub S consent form? You only need one, because if she’s in a
common law jurisdiction and the corporation is titled in her name, whether it’s
separate or marital, she has the sole management power and you only need one
signature because dower and curtsey are not involved, and stock in a
corporation is not a homestead (with one exception)!
Husband and wife may own things jointly as tenants in common
or tenants with right of survivorship or tenants by the entireties in some
states. Don’t forget the “Dos
Signatures” rule! Today, more and more
married couples hold everything in joint names like this.
Nine states are community property states and they vary
greatly between each other. In a
community property state, they divide between separate property and “community”
or “marital” property. In
Let’s say there is income from the funeral home, plus
dividends from lots of GM stock. The
lady leaves her money to charity. Here,
the less rich spouse dies before the more wealthy
one. In
What does this have to do with business associations? When you get to management of community property assets,
“that is a goddamn mess”. There
are a couple of easy hypos. In many
community property states you can hold community property in joint
tenancy. If there are two names on the
property, you’ll need two signatures to transfer. If there is a homestead in a community
property state, note that you’ll almost always need two signatures to transfer
it.
Do community property states have dower and curtesy? Yes and
no. Mainly no, though. But in
Here’s the big question: Sub S requires not only the board
of directors making the election but also the consent of all shareholders. The regulations used to say, and still say,
that in a community property state, regardless of how property is titled, it
will take the signature of both spouses in order for the election to be
valid. The management theory in the
community property states “is all fouled up”!
In these states, if a company is started up in a husband’s name, the attorney
must assure that the wife writes down that she doesn’t object to the transfer. They will add a paragraph that says: “My
husband is not my partner or my agent and I’m not liable for his debts.” Always watch out for tax elections in
community property states!
If you sue a husband on a community property debt, you must
join the wife to get at her share of the community property. Also, for an
In a few states, if the husband has been married before and
gets divorced, picks up a new wife, and the new wife is a big moneymaker, then
in a number of states, the alimony payments and child-support payments due to
the former wife and kids of the first marriage can be taken out of the wife’s
personal property even if she doesn’t co-mingle. This wouldn’t happen in a common law state
though. In a lot of those states, the
part of the community that the wife manages (that is, her personal earnings)
can be liable to the contracts and the torts of the husband! It’s wild!
If someone is practicing law as a sole proprietor and you’re
going to enter into a five-year computer lease with him, you will want a signed
statement from the proprietor’s wife that says her part of the community
property stands behind the husband’s debt before you ink the transaction. How does she protect herself? She goes to an attorney, who tells the
husband to form an LLC or one-man corporation.
Sole proprietorships
have a long history, and they are still around today. There is no
business association there. One guy is
simply running a business, and his whole
estate is liable for all of the debts of their business. If he wants to sell the business, he must make
out the bills of sale and the deeds and then consider tax factors. With a sole proprietorship, his individual
Form 1040 will reflect the income or loss from the business (on Schedule C)
along with his other personal income or loss.
The proprietor will be taxed on his total
income (if he’s single) at the current tax rate, which runs up to about 36% for
federal income tax, and in Ohio it will run up to 6.9%. It’s higher in a few states.
Moreover, his income, up to a maximum of about $82,000, will
be subject to a self-employment tax (yuck).
That’s part of the Social Security system. This tax will be about 160% of what an
employee of an incorporation would pay. If you’re an employee, you pay about 7-8% on
the first $80,000, and the corporation pays the same amount. It goes into your Social Security
account. If you’re a sole proprietor,
you have to pay both income tax and the substantial self-employment tax. But that’s not all either! There’s a Medicare tax that is unlimited in
amount. Are we finished? No. He
should be using either a corporation
or an LLC (a limited liability company).
The LLC is a “child” of the last twenty years. What is its big advantage? It has all the tax advantages of a general
partnership, and it also has the
corporate advantage of limited liability.
No one who is thinking advertently
uses a sole proprietorship or a general partnership. You’ll go for an LLC or a corporation.
If he is married,
he will most likely file a joint return
with his wife. At times, they’re better
off filing separate returns, but that is relatively rare. Usually, you’ll save money filing joint
returns. Does the wife take a risk by
signing the joint federal income tax return?
Family law and tax law will constantly bubble up in this course, and this
is a family/tax law problem. If the wife
files her own separate return, then
she has no individual liability if her husband’s return is screwed up. If a joint
return is filed, generally, the wife will have joint and several liability,
even if the screw-up relates to the husband’s income, but there are two or three affirmative “innocent spouse” defenses
that sometimes work and sometimes don’t.
We’ll see more about this when we take more tax courses. When you file a joint return, each spouse has
a duty to make sure that the tax return is in order. “You’re in bed with your spouse in more ways
than one…and you can get screwed in more ways than one, as Bubba would say.”
We won’t talk about sole proprietorships very much, because
a lawyer setting one of these up is almost malpractice per se. Usually, if a
business is getting set up this way, the guy is doing it himself.
For today, we read the old statute on general
partnerships. This is the statute as of
1914. In
Not-for-profit associations can be incorporated or unincorporated, but you should always incorporate them. The not-for-profit corporation statute in