The Village is primarily residential, but it has a real population of small business owners: home-based service businesses, professional consultants, retired professionals running second careers, and a handful of small operations serving neighborhood needs. Most are owner-operated. Most have a personal estate plan and a business legal stack that should be coordinated and frequently aren't.
Home-based Village businesses
A meaningful share of Village businesses operate out of the owner's home. The Village is residentially zoned, so any home-based business has to fit within the city's home occupation rules. Beyond zoning, the considerations include keeping the homestead exemption intact, separating business and personal finances cleanly, ensuring homeowner's insurance covers (or doesn't cover) the business activity, and titling business assets so they're protected from personal liability.
Operating agreements that actually work
- How major and day-to-day decisions get made.
- How profits and losses are allocated and when distributions occur.
- Who can transfer or sell their membership interest, and to whom.
- What happens on the death, disability, divorce, bankruptcy, or voluntary departure of a member.
- How disputes get resolved.
- How the LLC dissolves and how proceeds are distributed.
Buy-sell agreements for multi-owner Village businesses
A buy-sell determines what happens to an owner's interest in defined triggering events. Without one, an owner's death can leave their spouse or children as unwanted business partners. Funded with life insurance where appropriate, a buy-sell becomes self-executing.
Integration with the Village owner's estate plan
The business interest is often a meaningful asset on a Village owner's personal balance sheet. How it passes interacts with operating agreement transfer provisions, buy-sell terms, tax elections, and the family's overall plan. We bring all of this onto the same page.