You’ve just formed your limited liability company (“LLC”) and you’re finally able to breathe a big sigh of relief. The paperwork is complete, and you can finally get started with your dream business, right?

Arguably, one of the most important decisions that will affect the ultimate success of a business, whatever its size, is the decision of how to incorporate that business. There is a fairly wide range of choices to choose from, from sole proprietorships on up to regular C corporations. A business entity that has seen a meteoric rise in usage in the past few decades is the Limited Liability Company (“LLC”), and for good reason – LLCs come with a host of advantageous characteristics that combine some of the best traits of several options available to business entities. LLCs combine limited liability for members with the flexibility to choose how they’re taxed, such as flow-through taxation akin to partnerships (e.g., no taxation at the entity level, as with regular C corporations). With the rise in the popularity of LLCs, however, it’s helpful to know when there are advantages to choosing the venerable C corporation form over the upstart LLC.

An LLC is a fairly limitless business form. Generally, an LLC can be and act in any number of ways, tailored to how you want your company to operate. The Kentucky LLC statute provides several gap-filler provisions, but most of these can be overridden by the terms of the operating agreement, making the operating agreement a nearly indispensable part of any LLC.

The organization of any business as a limited liability company ("LLC") brings with it attendant protections for the members from the liabilities that arise in the course of the business as well as beneficial tax treatment. This protection is not a two-way street, however: the member's financial interest in the LLC does not receive complete protection from the member's personal liabilities. Judgment creditors of LLC members have at their disposal a unique remedy to collect distributions and more from the judgment debtor's membership or partnership interests; that remedy is the charging order.