Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: Relinquish Rights to Business

You and your friend are very smart to think of these things and plan for them up front. What you need is a buy/sell agreement between you and your friend. This can often be included as part of the operating agreement for the LLC. There are many ways that this can be structured so that in the event of death or divorce, not to mention disability or bankruptcy, your friend will have a clear way to keep running the business on her own.

By the way, usually, with an LLC, successors do not become members except with the permission of the other members. Normally, this should be spelled out in your operating agreement. If everything is properly in place, even absent a buy/sell agreement, your husband could only acquire the rights to receive distributions, but would have no rights to participate in running the business unless the other members agreed.

I would urge you to talk with an attorney and tell him or her what you are trying to accomplish. It should be possible to get the right paperwork in place without significant expense.