SCORE: Lunch n' Learn: How to Lose your Corporate Protection! Piercing the Corporate Veil

Please register with SCORE in advance for this program.  Click on Join Event Online. This event is held on Zoom.

Description:  This fast-moving Lunch 'N Learn will alert you to the most common mistakes that business owners make - and how to avoid them. If you have established your business as a corporation or LLC, this is one program you will not want to miss.

Many business owners establish corporations or LLCs (limited liability companies) to shield themselves from personal liability for business debts and protect their personal assets from creditors of the company. When established and maintained properly, a corporation or LLC is treated under the law as an independent entity, with many of the rights afforded to individuals. Such rights include the ability to own and transfer property, enter into contracts, obtain funding and to initiate legal action. Corporations and LLCs are distinct entities, apart from their shareholders ("members" in an LLC); as a result, only the entities assets can be seized to pay judgments or satisfy other debts owed by it. This is called "the corporate veil".  However, business owners can lose the liability protection afforded by the corporate veil through simple, common mistakes. Failure to consistently comply with corporate formalities and requirements may permit creditors to "pierce the corporate" veil and seek payment from the individual shareholders or members. A court may find that the corporation is merely an alter ego of the individual owner(s), and the corporate structure could be disregarded, thereby making the individual shareholders or members personally liable for the actions and debts of the company. 

Presenter: Randall Brett is a former Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association Solo and Small Firm Section, a delegate to the General Counsel, and an active member of the New Jersey chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association.

Sponsored by Santander Bank and co-sponsored by East Brunswick Public Library.