My husband was a partner in a LLC. He passed away in 2004 and his partner has now told me that his 49% was liquidated with his debts. Is this accurate? Can the wife of a business owner loose her share of the company when he dies?
-- Nicole
A.
Sounds fishy to me.
Your husband's interest in the LLC should have passed to his estate. If the estate was probated, the interest in the LLC should have been listed as one of the assets. Regardless, his personal representative (presumably yourself?) should have acted on behalf of the estate to deal with his interest in the LLC. The LLC should have been put on notice of his death, and this should have triggered certain actions being taken. The other owner(s) may have had the right to liquidate the LLC at that point, or buy out his interest. Regardless, one would think that you would have received some kind of notice if you were the personal representative and the other owner(s) knew that. You should talk to a lawyer. Given that so much time has gone by, you should talk to someone right away.
