Wyoming LLC with member resident from California

[Olga Fomenko]

I'm starting an LLC for money lending business. The attorney suggested to open a Wyoming LLC for tax and asset protection. My issue is that a managing member lives in California and the operations manager lives in Florida which according to the filing documents means that we have to register business in 2 more states: CA and DC. Operations Manager is not going to be on legal documents, she is a contracted worker.

My question is if anyone has been in a similar situation and found a way to minimize expenses?

I am consulting with attorneys as well, so I'm just looking for other opinions to ask the right questions to my attorney. So do not hesitate to share, I won't consider it as a legal advise (unless you are an attorney and want me to)

Thnx in advance!

[Daniel Chang]

California has a ridiculous rule that if the managing member lives in CA, then it's considered doing business in California, despite the actual business has nothing to do with CA.  I don't believe any other state has the rule.  

Attorneys do what attorneys do best.  They don't give practical business advice.  They give advice that is theoretical.  I agree, WY has better asset protection laws and privacy laws.  However, do you really want to deal with 3 state registrations and yearly maintenance, including the fees associate with each?  And if you run a legitimate business, the liklihood that you get caught in a situation that WY laws would really help you and another state's would not is 1 in a million.  

I would say to minimize your expenses, create the LLC in DC. If your partner in CA insists on being a managing member, then perhaps have that person pay the $800 CA registration fee?