Transferring Property into an LLC

[Martin Nowak]

I own a property that is zoned commercially. I want to put a business there. My wife has an LLC she established several years ago. I'd like to transfer the property into the LLC prior to beginning the business. Ex: food and liquor licenses. I do carry a mortgage on the property. How do I this and any suggestions? My goal is to protect my other assets and primary residence if the commercial failed or had issues.

Thanks.

[Mike S.]

Originally posted by @Martin Nowak:

@Mike S. Thanks for your reply. So a few questions to clarify. What is a WD? So basically, I should keep the operation in the LLC . the property is owned solely by me. I'm the only one on mortgage. So should develop a lease between the LLC (restaurant operator) and me personally? Would that keep our other assets protected?

WD: Warranty Deed; QCD: Qhit Claim Deed.

You would have to talk to an asset protection attorney and a CPA to discuss your specific details.

But I would envision that you may ending up creating an entity (probably a disregarded LLC) to own the property, and another entity (probably taxed as an S or C corp) for the operation part. You will have a lease agreement between the operation and property entities.

If you want to develop a brand for your business, you could also create a third entity that will own the brand, and use the operation entity as an operator of the brand. So if you have a devastating lawsuit that result in shutting down the operation entity, you can start again fresh with a new one, keeping the same brand and even the same building if needed.