Legal Question in Business Law in California

My 17 year old nephew is planning a startup. We understand that someone under 18 years of age cannot sign a legally binding contract.

How can he structure the company so he can be the CEO?

Are there any limitations that we should be aware of if the CEO is below 17 years of age? Is there a way to get around around these limitations legally?

Any help/guidance would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance!


Asked on 8/17/14, 10:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Frank Natoli Natoli-Legal, LLC

It can be more or less complicated case depending. Does the company have concrete assets involved? For example, there was a case where the principal was 16 and developing a number of patentable inventions as part of the entity. In that case, a trust was set up to hold his interests.

While there is nothing wrong with the 17 year old being CEO, someone has to be able to contract on behalf of the entity, so perhaps it should be set up as a manager-managed entity with one of the parents as manager with a clear written imperative to convert the entity to member managed once he turns of age.

In any event, how you move forward here depends on the underlying value. If it is similar to the case of the 16 year old where we were talking about valuable assets, you guys need to invest in some legal help to make sure this is handled the right way. If the kid is just cutting lawns, you can take more chances. I suggest discussing it all over with a lawyer (or several) in more detail and get a sense of your best options.

If you would like to discuss further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient.

Our firm is now referred by the American Bar Association (see under the New York section):

http://www.americanbar.org/groups/delivery_legal_services/resources/programs_to_help_those_with_moderate_income.html

Kind regards,

Frank

www.LanternLegal.com

866-871-8655

[email protected]

DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is formed on the basis of this posting.

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Answered on 8/18/14, 12:16 pm


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