Married, but only one spouse wants to do the business

[Dana N.]

If my spouse doesn't want to be involved or have the business, and I form an LLC, will I have to be considered multi member because I am married? or can I form it as a single member?

Please advise.

Dana

[Andrew Bosworth]

Dana,

Maybe you've done this already, but I would encourage you to offer your best "pitch" to your spouse prior to moving forward. This is only my opinion, but it will go much smoother long-term if both of you are on board. I caught the REI bug long before my wife did and she was initially very much against pursuing this type of investing...it's both of our money after all. I was convinced that REI was a sound investment for us, so I took the time to put together facts and figures (and prayed a lot!) to show her what led me to this decision. This took some time, but she is now on board - which was a major hurdle to jump. I'm much more confident moving forward now since we are on the same page. Heck, our spouses may be the toughest people to convince! If you can do that, then negotiating future RE deals may come easily for you. : )

As far as setting up legal entities, it looks like other BPers have already given you some good advice. As for a happy marriage, there's nothing better.