The Law Offices of Brenton C. McWilliams – Blog
The Law Offices of Brenton C. McWilliams
Welcome to our blog. Here, you will find articles on topics relating to estate planning, elder law and probate.
How is an Alabama Limited Liability Company Managed?
In Alabama, the rights and obligations of the limited liability company owners are typically set out in two separate documents. The certificate of formation, formerly referred to as the articles of incorporation, is filed with the probate office and secretary of state to form the LLC. Very little information is required for the certificate of information. Since the certificate of formation becomes public record after filing, it usually includes nothing more than the required information including the name of the LLC, the organizer, the name of the registered agent, the address of the registered and whether the LLC is a series LLC.
What is a Limited Liability Company?
A limited liability company or LLC is a business entity created by state law. Limited liability companies are similar to corporations such as the companies traded by stockholders on Wall Street. However, the rules for limited liability companies are much more flexible allowing the complexity of individual LLCs to be easily adapted to fit the needs of each business. For example, a start-up LLC with a single member could be created with complete authority vested in the single owner and minimal reporting requirements. A more complex business with multiple owners could design its LLC with a board of directors, executive officers and non-voting economic interest owners.
Limited liability companies also offer flexibility in taxation. The IRS classifies a single-member LLC as a disregarded entity and treats it as a sole proprietorship for income taxes. An LLC with multiple members is treated as a partnership by default with a share of the income passed through to each individual member for reporting on their personal income tax return. In some circumstances, a limited liability company can also make an election to be taxed as either a C-corporation or an S-corporation.
What is an Easement?
An easement, also sometimes referred to as a right of way (which may refer to a specific type of easement), is defined as an interest in real property owned by another that gives the owner of the interest a specific limited use or enjoyment. A road is a common example. The person who owns the easement has the right to travel over the other person’s property. The property owner still owns the property underlying the easement, but the property owner’s use of their own property is secondary to the rights of the easement owner. In other words, the property owner’s use of the property is bound by the easement.
Easements for utilities typically come to mind as common examples: power line easements and pipeline easements for water and sewer lines. However, easements come in a variety of less common forms. In Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, easements for access to the beach are common. Developers use many different easements forms to create the condominiums and modern developments which have been common along the Gulf Coast.
Some states recognize easements which guarantee a piece of property the right to access light and air. Conservation easements limit the use of a land for conservation purposes such as the promotion of outdoor recreation or the establishment of a wildlife habitat. Some of the earliest types of easements involved the right to graze cattle on another person’s property and to take water from a pond or spring.
Easements are typically acquired by deed, but there are at least seven different ways to acquire an easement in Alabama. “These are: (1) by express conveyance, (2) by reservation or exception, (3) by implication, (4) by necessity, (5) by prescription, (6) by contract, and (7) by reference to boundaries or maps.” Helms v. Tullis, 398 So. 2d 253, 255 (1981). I have some disagreements with a couple of these, but I’ll save them for another article.
