Relationship LLCs -Now There Is A New Way To Tie The Knot. It is our position that limited liability companies, "LLCs", may prove to be the new marriage model. Marriage is presently available only to one man and one woman. LLCs are available to everyone, couples (of any sexual mix) who wish to pursue life together, a single parent family and groups of friends. Marriage is based on family law, limited liability companies are based on partnership law and the legal arrangement its "members" agree to.

Relationship LLC ® (RLLC ™) is a term we created to refer to limited liability companies created by people who generally are not married but who want a legally recognized relationship between them. A relationship which would be a legal business entity that could buy property, provide health insurance to its members, obtain credit cards, serve as the couple's consulting company (Put Your Relationship LLC To Work), lease a car, file a tax return as a partnership and, in general, engage in any legitimate business.

Limited Liability Companies are not taxed when classified as a partnership, rather the members pay tax, at the personal income rate, on the money which they receive from the limited liability company. An LLC can be viewed as a partnership which has the advantage of a corporation in that the members/partners are not liable for the debts of the LLC, nor are they liable to each other.

It is our position that the way to strengthen marriage is to eliminate SEX as a component of the contract, the parties contracting should be able to handle sex without the state's assistance.  There is no real need for the state to be in the business of promoting contracts for sex.  There is clearly a benefit to be gained from the state promoting responsibility and stable relationships between people who care about each other, there is also a benefit to be gained from NOT having the welfare of children at the mercy of the current institution of marriage.

At least one researcher has claimed that the key to a successful marriage is the partners being friends, i.e liking each other independent of lusting after each other.  Creating a Relationship LLC with your partner is a statement that your feelings for your partner(s) are beyond lust, that you actually LIKE the other person.  

• LLC-USA is a site which discusses LLCs. It has a comparison of LLCs to other business structures as well as links to state department of state agencies where you can obtain free information about LLCs.

• Strategies for Using the LLC - This is the Asset Protection Web site of Robert J. Mintz

• A non citizen may be a member of an LLC. Members of LLCs may be actual live humans, corporations, Non-Profit corporations, or other LLCs, there is no limit on how many entities may be members of a LLC. "Limited Liability Companies for Foreign Investors". By Stanley Mailman, Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke LLP.

• With an LLC, members may decide how the money which the LLC receives is to be distributed. For example, if the LLC receives $50,000 in income and the members decide that the income is to be distributed 50/50, then each member will report $25,000 as income rather than one member reporting $50,000 as income.

• Married couples are using LLCs and limited partnerships to create family partnerships for estate planning purposes "Family Partnerships"?

• LLC Scenario ----Four Couples in New York notice that if you combine the amount of money they are paying to rent apartments in New York City that they can easily buy a building and rent out the apartments that they do not occupy. The Four Couples create a limited liability company that buys an apartment building, the LLC agreement entitled them to occupy the apartments they live in and the proceeds that the LLC receives from renting the other apartments is distributed equally between the four couples.

• Must Read ---- "WEDDED TO AN ILLUSION" by Fenton Johnson, Harper's Magazine/November 1996 . "Rather than consider the control of sexual behavior as a primary goal of marriage, why not leave issues of monogamy to the individuals and focus instead on marriage as the primary (though not the only) means whereby two people help each other and their dependents through life? " http://www.harpers.org

• San Francisco Examiner: Business Section, Tuesday, March 7, 1995. By: ROBERT L. SOMMERS - TAX MAN -- A Better Deal for Small Firms in California, Best features of partnerships, corporations. "The LLC also provides estate planning opportunities since trusts and estates, including revocable living trusts, may own a membership interest. This makes an LLC an excellent investment vehicle for unmarried couples, families or friends who invest together, since they decide how to share their income and losses. And by using revocable living trusts, probate will be avoided upon an individual's death." www.taxprophet.com

• Durable Power of Attorney Clause as part of LLC -- Many unmarried couples execute durable power of attorney agreements to cover such things as visiting a partner in the hospital or to cover situations where a partner is incapacitated. One attorney on the ABA's LNET-LLC mailing list stated : "Our 'standard' form contains a durable power of attorney in favor of the managers (or other members if member-managed). The main goal is to permit the designee to do such things as file amendments to articles or register to transact business in new jurisdictions, as may be required from time to time. However, we generally grant power to do just about anything except reduce another member's rights to distributions or vote on behalf of another member. For the latter items, I would also suggest a durable power that is extrinsic to the LLC operating agreement." Another attorney cautioned: "Be careful that your power of attorney clauses do not violate your IRS 7701 classification positions. Any side agreement to dictate the outcome of a vote or a position prior to that event is very dangerous."

• "Unwed But Not Unwise", By Robert L. Sommers, San Francisco Examiner. "Unmarried couples with substantial assets and investments should consider combining an LLC with two revocable living trusts."

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