This article applies to Florida and Tennessee law, but note that ANYONE in ANY STATE can create and fund (put assets into) a Tennessee or Florida Community Property Trust (including real property, brokerage accounts, etc.), even when that property is located in another state and even when the person is not a resident of either state. Some restrictions apply, but they are fairly easy to accommodate for most people. Read on to learn more about Community Property Trusts and how they might be a valuable part of your comprehensive estate plan.

If you are a corporation, limited partnership (LP), limited liability company (LLC), or business trust. . .chartered, qualified, or registered in Tennessee or doing business in this state, then you must register for and pay franchise and excise taxes. This sometimes comes as a surprise to people who incorporate or create their entities in another state (like Delaware, Nevada, or Wyoming) but then do business or own property inside that entity in the State of Tennessee.

Anyone who owns an LLC in Tennessee is liable for Franchise and Excise taxes unless they qualify for one of seventeen exemptions (the article referenced above lists all of them.) This article is going to focus on exemption #11: the Family Owned Non-Corporate Entity (FONCE) exemption.

This is a question estate planning attorneys hear almost every day. The answer to this question is pretty typical of lawyers: “It depends.” In this post, we’ll give you some things to think about before you meet with a lawyer.

Anyone conducting or transacting business in the State of Tennessee, who has their business registered in another state (for example, someone who has a Wyoming LLC but who runs their business out of a Tennessee location), must register with the State of Tennessee for a Certificate of Authority. That does not mean they have to have a Tennessee LLC, but they will have to pay fees and taxes that could make conducting business in Tennessee more expensive than they realize.

Tennessee is one of the best states for asset protection trusts, many of which are available to people who aren’t even residents of the state. One of the more unique ones is the TIST, the Tennessee Investments Services Trust. Note, for our Florida clients, there’s a very similar asset protection trust in Florida as well, and the language of the Florida Statute effectively mirrors the language in the Tennessee Code, so we can offer this to our clients confidently in both states.