Operating agreement – recorded annual meeting for the LLC3.I’m sure there’s a lot more, but those two items are mentioned the most for a lawyer to pierce the corporate veil of the LLC.I have struggled for a long time if I should transfer my properties to a LLC but with all nuisances of keeping the LLC compliant, I’m in the same boat as your father.

I imagine a lawyer would do a much better job of keeping a client from piercing the corporate veil than I would if I self-managed my LLCs, but I'm not sure if it's worth fees that high, or if other attorneys would charge less.

Anonymity makes it more difficult to personally connect you to the structure or "pierce the corporate veil."

Again this is something that you should consult your own expert but I believe a good lawyer will be able to pierce this LLC protection due to obvious comingling of finances.An umbrella policy does not require separation of finances (no comingling of assets) for the protection. 

I would like to ask if someone could point me towards how I should fund this LLC so that I don't 'pierce the veil' between my private funds that I will need to use to buy and rehab the property.thanks in advance(please excuse any slow responses from my end)

My partner and I are new to investing, preparing to find our first deal in the Pierce County area.

Those are two sure ways to pierce your corporate veil to my understanding. 

Having said that, I definitely create annual meeting minutes for my LLCs for the following reasons:1)  it's fairly straightforward to do2)  it shows that you are following corporate formalities which strengthen the legitimacy of the LLC 3)  it makes it more difficult for a creditor to 'pierce the corporate veil' meaning the creditor argues that the LLC is really just a proxy for you and thus tries to pursue you personally for damagesI also recommend that each LLC has its own bank account and that funds are never mixed between companies.Hope that this helps!

Speciffically because the corporate veil is much much harder to pierce. 

Google "piercing the corporate veil".