LLC Shareholder/Member Meeting Requirements

While corporation owners are called “shareholders”, LLC owners are called “members”. Both a shareholder and a member own a piece of the corporation or LLC. Typical corporations will have three levels of governance: the shareholders who own the corporation, the Board of Directors who oversees the corporation’s activities and make decisions in the best interests of the shareholders, and the administrative staff who operates the day-to-day activities of the corporation.

Limited liability companies are much more flexible than corporations, and states give LLC owners much more control over their businesses. An LLC is not required to have a Board of Directors, for example. Also much more lenient are the meeting requirements. State and federal laws mandate that corporate shareholders meet annually, and often impose additional meeting requirements. LLC members, on the other hand, have no meeting requirements at all except for those that are self-imposed by the LLC’s operating agreement.

It is still generally a good idea to meet with the other members of your LLC regularly to discuss the company and its progress, however. Meetings also help enhance the LLC’s limited liability protections; recorded meeting minutes will show that members are acting within the scope of their authority, which helps insulate members from personal liability.