Estate Planning
LLC Formation in Georgia
If you own rental property, run a business, or hold real estate in your own name, your personal home, savings, and retirement accounts are exposed to every lawsuit those assets attract. An LLC puts a legal wall between your business life and your personal life. Here is how to build it.
What You Are Exposed to Right Now
If you own rental property in your own name, every tenant, visitor, and contractor who walks onto that property can sue you personally. Your home, savings accounts, retirement funds, and other investments are all available to satisfy a judgment. There is no separation between your personal life and your rental business.
The same is true for business owners who hold real estate, equipment, or business assets personally. A delivery driver gets injured on your commercial property. A piece of equipment malfunctions and hurts a worker. A business partner disputes ownership. Without an LLC, your personal finances are on the table. The business and the person are legally the same thing.
Georgia courts have awarded millions of dollars in premises liability cases. A single verdict can exceed the value of your personal home. If that verdict is entered against you personally, creditors can pursue your bank accounts, place liens on your property, and garnish income. One lawsuit can undo years of work.
When One LLC Is Not Enough
One LLC puts everything in one bucket. Your operations, your assets, your income, and your property all sit in the same legal container. If that entity is hit with a judgment, everything in it is reachable. A patient sues a medical practice. A customer is injured at a warehouse. A contractor gets hurt on a job site. If the operations and the assets live in the same LLC, a successful claim can reach all of it. One judgment can take the whole bucket.
Separation is how you prevent that. A physician who owns their clinic and the building it sits in should have two separate entities: one for the practice and one for the real estate. A malpractice claim against the practice cannot reach the building if it is held in a different LLC. A roofing company owner who holds trucks and equipment in a separate entity protects those assets if a job site lawsuit goes against the operating company. A real estate investor with multiple rentals benefits from keeping each property in its own LLC so a judgment on one cannot reach the others. The more you have built, the more valuable separation becomes.
Holding companies take this one step further. You form operating or property LLCs for each line of business or asset, then a separate holding company that owns the individual LLCs. The holding company handles the income, the banking, and the management layer. The individual LLCs hold only what they were created to protect. A claim against one part of your business cannot reach the holding company or any other entity in the structure.
What You Get with LLC Formation
Melissa prepares and files your Articles of Organization with the Georgia Secretary of State. Your LLC is registered as a legal entity in Georgia. Your business name is protected and your entity is on record.
Every LLC we form includes a custom operating agreement. This is the governing document for your LLC. It covers ownership percentages, voting rights, how profits are distributed, and what happens if a member dies, becomes incapacitated, or wants to exit. Without an operating agreement, Georgia law fills in the gaps, and those defaults may not reflect what you actually want. A signed operating agreement is the document that protects you when things get complicated.
We also handle your EIN registration with the IRS, registered agent setup in Georgia, and initial resolutions if needed for multi-member LLCs. If you are setting up multiple LLCs or a holding company structure, we map out the ownership chain before filing. You leave with a complete entity, not just a filing receipt.
Succession Planning Inside Your LLC
An LLC is a business asset. If you die without a plan, your ownership interest in the LLC passes through probate the same as any other asset. Your family may not be able to access or manage the LLC for months while the court process plays out. The LLC protects you from lawsuits. It does not automatically protect your family from probate.
We can structure your operating agreement to pre-designate a successor manager. We can also specify who should inherit your LLC interest and in what proportion. For complete probate avoidance, your LLC should be owned by your revocable living trust. That way, your trustee can step in immediately at your death and manage or transfer the LLC without going to court. An LLC and a trust working together close both gaps.
A Note on Georgia LLC Protection
Georgia’s charging order statute provides real protection for multi-member LLCs. A creditor who wins a judgment against you personally cannot take over your LLC. They can only receive a charging order, which entitles them to your future distributions. They cannot vote, manage, or force a sale. Multi-member LLCs have meaningful protection in Georgia courts.
Single-member LLCs in Georgia carry weaker protection. Georgia courts have more flexibility to appoint a receiver or order a sale when there is only one member. This does not mean a single-member LLC is useless. It still provides separation and a clear paper record of intent. But it is not as strong as a multi-member structure. If maximum protection is the goal, the structure of the LLC matters as much as forming it.
The fact that you read this far tells us something about you. You take this seriously. So do we.
The Documents
- Revocable Living Trust
- Pour-Over Will
- Quitclaim Deed
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Healthcare Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
The Implementation
- Document Walk-Through Call
- Trust Funding Session
- Funding Checkup
The Included Services
- Successor Trustee Orientation
- Professional Coordination Call
- Surviving Spouse Transition Call
- Post-Signing Checklist
What This Does Not Do
An LLC does not protect you from personal guarantees. If you sign personally on a loan or lease, the LLC does not shield you from that obligation. The personal guarantee exists outside the entity. Any debt you sign for personally follows you personally.
An LLC does not protect you if you commingle funds. If you run personal expenses through your LLC account or fail to maintain separation between your finances and the business, a court can disregard the LLC entirely. This is called piercing the corporate veil. The protection only holds if you treat the LLC like a separate entity.
An LLC does not handle your tax elections. How your LLC is taxed, whether as a disregarded entity, a partnership, or an S-corporation, is a separate decision that requires a CPA or tax attorney. We form the entity. We do not give tax advice. Talk to your accountant before making any tax election.
An LLC does not replace a trust for passing assets to your family. If you die and your LLC is in your personal name, it will go through probate. The LLC and your estate plan are two different tools. They work best when built together.
Without an LLC
- Tenant or visitor sues you personally your home and savings are exposed
- One judgment covers all properties you own in your own name
- Business partner disputes have no governing document to resolve them
- LLC interest goes through probate at death family waits months for access
- No clear ownership record if you become incapacitated
- Equipment or property injuries create unlimited personal liability
With an LLC
- Personal assets are shielded from business and property liabilities
- Each LLC contains its own exposure, protecting your other properties
- Operating agreement governs ownership, voting, and exit procedures
- Ownership can be structured to avoid probate through your estate plan
- Successor manager named in the operating agreement can step in immediately
- Liability stays within the entity that owns the asset
How It Works
Schedule Your Family Protection Audit
Book a 60-minute call with Melissa. She reviews your assets, your family situation, and where you are currently exposed.
Melissa Designs Your Plan
She builds your estate plan from scratch based on your specific assets and family. You get an exact quote before you commit to anything.
Review Every Document With Melissa
Before you sign, Melissa walks through every section of your trust with you in plain language. No legal jargon. No confusion about what you are signing.
We Fund and Finalize Everything
We retitle your property, verify every account is correctly aligned with your trust, and make sure your successor trustee knows exactly what to do when the time comes.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs every plan at The Hive Law and handles every client consultation herself. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
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What Our Clients Say
After my father passed away, my mother had to rely on me and my brother for everything. Dad never set up a trust. It took over a year to sort through probate, and during that time, Mom couldn't access most of their money without our help. I promised myself I would never put my wife in that position. This firm set us up with a trust package that does exactly that. My wife is fully protected. She can access every account, manage every asset, and make every decision on her own from day one. No court involvement. No asking anyone for help. My wife said it's the first time she's felt confident about what would happen if I wasn't here. That alone was worth it.
My biggest fear was that if I died first, my wife would be stuck trying to figure everything out alone. We have accounts at multiple banks, a brokerage account, life insurance, and a house. We got our trust package done with this firm and that fear is gone. Everything is structured so that if something happens to me, she steps right in. No court. No waiting. She will be financially stable and fully in control from day one. They also helped us set up power of attorney and healthcare directives. If you're in the Atlanta area, don't wait.
We had an outstanding experience working with Melissa Breyer to create our Living Trust. From start to finish, she was knowledgeable, professional, and incredibly easy to work with. She took the time to clearly explain every step of the process, answered all of our questions with patience, and made what could have been a complicated task feel straightforward and stress free. We are so grateful for her help and couldn't be happier with the outcome.
We highly recommend Hive Law. They were extremely patient and responsive, answering our many rounds of questions regarding trusts and estate planning. Shawn consistently responded the same day we sent our questions — even while his family was on vacation. Melissa was always available to discuss matters by phone whenever we needed additional clarification. Both are very knowledgeable in estate planning, and we would confidently recommend Hive Law to friends and family.
The Hive Law has been amazing throughout the process of setting up our trust. Every detail is considered and no stone is left unturned. They have been easy and enjoyable to work with. I would absolutely recommend them.
The Hive Law made the entire estate planning and trust process clear, organized, and easy to understand. They took the time to explain everything in detail whether by email or over the phone. Their team was professional, responsive, and truly cared about helping us protect our family and assets. Melissa and Shawn are very nice, patient, and easy to talk to. I highly recommend The Hive Law to anyone looking for knowledgeable and trustworthy estate planning services.
Frequently Asked Questions
You do not legally need one, but it is the recommended structure if asset protection is a priority. A judgment on one property can reach everything held in a single LLC. Separate LLCs contain the exposure to each individual property. If you have multiple rentals, we can walk you through the right structure during your Family Protection Audit.
A single-member LLC has one owner. A multi-member LLC has two or more. Georgia’s charging order protection is stronger for multi-member LLCs. Courts have more flexibility to pierce single-member LLC protection. If you have a spouse, a business partner, or a trust that can serve as a second member, a multi-member structure is worth considering.
Yes, if the LLC is properly maintained. The LLC creates a legal separation between the property and your personal finances. A judgment against the LLC can only reach assets the LLC holds. It cannot reach your personal home, savings, or retirement accounts. That protection disappears if you commingle funds or fail to treat the LLC as a separate entity.
If your LLC is in your personal name when you die, it goes through probate. Your family cannot manage or transfer it until the court process is complete. The cleanest solution is to have your revocable living trust own the LLC. Your trustee steps in at death with no court involvement. We can help you set this up as part of both services.
Once we have your information and the operating agreement is signed, we typically file within 24 to 48 hours. Georgia’s Secretary of State processes standard filings within a few business days. Expedited processing is available if you need it faster.
LLC formation is . That includes the Articles of Organization, a custom operating agreement, EIN registration, registered agent setup for the first year, and initial resolutions if needed. There are no hidden fees. Georgia’s annual LLC registration is $50 per year and is your responsibility to maintain after formation.
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