You signed the trust. The attorney handed you a binder and a list of things to re-title: the house, the brokerage account, the bank accounts. Somewhere on the list it says "assign LLC interests to trust", and that item is still open a year later, because nobody explained what it involves, and because it is the one item the bank cannot do for you. Until it is done, every LLC you own personally goes through probate, which is the outcome the trust was created to prevent.
This guide is the owner's step-by-step for moving LLC membership interests into a revocable living trust: what to read first, what to sign, who has to agree, how to update the company's own records and books, the S-Corp exception, and the two situations where you should not do it without a conversation.
A revocable trust only controls what it owns. Your membership interest in an LLC is personal property, like a share of stock, and until it is assigned to the trust it is yours personally, which means it passes under your will, through probate, on the schedule of the court. "Moving" the LLC does not mean re-forming it or changing its name; it means the trust becomes the member in your place, on the company's records, while you keep running it as trustee and manager.
If the LLC has an S-Corp election, the trust must be an eligible shareholder. A revocable living trust is a grantor trust and qualifies while you are alive. The issue is what happens after death: the trust, or the sub-trusts it splits into, must qualify as a Qualified Subchapter S Trust or an Electing Small Business Trust within the allowed period (generally two years), and someone must file the election. Get this planned now, in the trust document and in a note to your successor trustee, because a missed election terminates the S status for every shareholder.
Before you sign, check anything that could be triggered by a change in ownership of the LLC: loan agreements (most have a due-on-transfer or change-of-control clause), commercial leases, franchise agreements, professional licenses held by the entity, and government contracts. Most lenders consent to a transfer to the borrower's own revocable trust as a routine matter, but "routine" means you ask first. A transfer that violates a loan covenant is a default even if no one notices for years.
Day to day, nothing. You sign as manager, or as trustee of the member, and the business runs as before. What changes is what happens if you die or become incapacitated: the successor trustee steps in as the member immediately, votes the interest, and keeps the business operating, with no court involvement. What also changes is your records: the ownership map now shows the trust above each LLC, and that map is the document your attorney, your CPA and your successor will work from.
An LLC with partners who will not consent. If the other members refuse, you may be able to assign economic rights only, which gets the money to the trust but not the vote. Discuss with your attorney whether a buy-sell agreement solves it better than a forced assignment.
An LLC that is about to be sold, refinanced or restructured. Do the transaction first and the assignment after, or coordinate them, so the counterparties are not dealing with a change of ownership mid-deal.
The assignment covers the LLCs that exist today. The one you form next year for a new venture is not in the trust unless you form it with the trust as the member, or assign it afterward. This is the most common way a funded trust becomes partly unfunded: the plan was complete at signing, and the structure kept growing. Keep the ownership map current, and treat "new entity" as an estate planning event. HaraPro draws the map from the books of every entity you own, so an LLC that sits in your name while the others sit in the trust is visible as the exception it is; the estate planning page shows the map alongside the trust documents it tracks.
Check the operating agreement for transfer rules, get written consent from the other members (or sign a resolution if you are the only one), sign an assignment of your membership interest to yourself as trustee, update the membership schedule and the company's equity accounts, and notify the bank and your CPA.
No. A revocable trust is a grantor trust, so the LLC keeps its EIN and its tax treatment, and the income is reported the same way as before.
Usually yes, unless the operating agreement specifically permits transfers to a member's trust. Without consent, you may only be able to assign the economic rights, not the membership itself.
Yes while you are alive, as a grantor trust. After death the trust must qualify as a QSST or ESBT within the allowed period, or the S election ends. Plan the election in advance.
Most consent to a transfer to the borrower's own revocable trust, but many loan agreements treat it as a change of control that requires consent. Ask before you assign.