Form America

Form America Form America LLC is a non-attorney legal paperwork provider assisting with form completion for DIY legal paperwork.

08/24/2026

You own four rental houses. You formed four LLCs. You believe you have separation.

You also have one shoebox.

When a tenant sues, opposing counsel doesn't attack your filings — they're clean, and they know it. They go looking for commingling. One bank account paying two properties' expenses. A lease signed in the wrong name. A repair invoice nobody can attribute. Find enough, and the argument isn't that your LLCs are invalid. It's that they were never really operated as separate things — and four entities get treated as one. From there, the reach toward you personally is a shorter argument than it should be.

Florida's protected series law was built for exactly this. Each protected series is a person distinct from the parent, from every other series, and from you.¹ It can hold property, contract, and be sued in its own name² — with one annual report instead of four.

But the statute is explicit about what earns that separation. An asset belongs to a series only if the records describe it clearly enough for a disinterested, reasonable individual to trace it.³ That is the actual legal standard. An outsider, looking in cold, has to be able to see it.

That outsider is eventually a judge. This law took effect July 1, 2026 and no Florida court has interpreted it yet.⁴ When the first case comes, the question won't be whether the designations were filed. It will be whether these were genuinely operated as separate silos.

Most owners run the structure hoping nobody ever checks.

The Four Walls Series Register™ is built so that when someone does, the answer is already on paper — contemporaneous, complete, and boring. Records made when things happened, not reconstructed after a complaint arrives.

This doesn't replace your insurance. It's what's still standing when the policy is exhausted or the carrier denies.

¹ Fla. Stat. § 605.2103 — a protected series is a person distinct from the series LLC, from each other protected series of that company, and from each member and transferee.

² Fla. Stat. § 605.2104 — a protected series may sue and be sued in its own name and generally has the same powers and purposes as the series LLC.

³ Fla. Stat. § 605.2301(2)(a) — an asset is an associated asset of a protected series only if the series creates and maintains records that state the name of the protected series and describe the asset with sufficient specificity to permit a disinterested, reasonable individual to make the determinations the statute requires.

⁴ Fla. Stat. §§ 605.2101–605.2802, created by Senate Bill 316, signed June 20, 2025, effective July 1, 2026.

Form America LLC is not a law firm and provides no legal or tax advice. This is general information, not advice about your situation.

08/24/2026

If your Florida “kid“ is over the age of 18, doctors are not required to and in many cases won’t consult you in the event of an emergency before they make decisions regarding the health and welfare of your child if they are incapacitated.

Remember the case of Terri Schiavo from Pinellas County? If she had the one simple document that we prepare, the advance medical directive, her several year ordeal, being plugged and unplugged from life-support would never have happened. 

 the Florida Supreme Court has made a special provision that allows Form America, a non-attorney firm, to prepare advance medical directives for Florida residents. We are a member of the Florida Association of legal document preparers (FALDP)

Get the $149 flat rate package and we can have this done within one business day from when you contact us.

https://advancemedicaldirective.com/

Don’t wait. 

08/22/2026

Real estate agents in Tampa Bay — Florida's new 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐋𝐂 law took effect July 1, and almost nobody in this market knows about it yet.

Here's why it matters to you: your investor clients who stopped at two or three doors because they didn't want to form another LLC for every property now have a different answer. One company, one annual report, each property in its own compartment.

I've spent months on this legislation and built a records framework specifically for multi-property investors — the Four Walls Series Register™. I'm doing a handful of 1-on-1s next week in Tarpon Springs, early mornings, to walk agents through how it works and how to raise it with clients.

No cost, no pitch to your clients, nothing you have to sell. It's a value-add you can hand them.

Message me if you want one of the slots.

Form America LLC is a non-attorney document preparation service. Not a law firm, not attorneys, no legal advice.

08/19/2026

Florida's New Series LLC Law Took Effect July 1, 2026: What Florida Business Owners Need to Know

Florida changed how limited liability companies work on July 1, 2026, and most business owners in the state still have not heard about it.

On that date, the Uniform Protected Series Provisions became effective under Chapter 605 of the Florida Statutes — the Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act. The legislation (CS/SB 316 and CS/HB 403) was signed by Governor DeSantis back on June 20, 2025, with a one-year delay built in so the Florida Department of State could build the new filings into the Sunbiz system. That year is up. The filings went live on Sunbiz at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on July 1, 2026.

Florida now joins Delaware, Nevada, and a short list of other states that allow protected series limited liability companies. Here is a plain-English look at what changed, what it costs, and what it does not do.

WHAT IS A FLORIDA PROTECTED SERIES LLC?

A protected series lets one parent Florida LLC create separate internal compartments — each holding its own assets, carrying its own debts, and having its own members and managers.

The key concept is the horizontal liability shield. Under the new provisions, the debts and obligations of one protected series are generally not enforceable against the assets of the parent LLC or against any other series. A creditor pursuing a claim tied to Series A is not supposed to be able to reach the assets sitting in Series B.

One important distinction that trips people up: a protected series is not a separate legal entity. It does not get its own document number and it does not get its own page on Sunbiz. It is a legally distinct portion of an existing LLC. The parent and the series are permanently linked — if the parent LLC is dissolved, its protected series dissolve with it.

There is also no such thing as filing a brand-new "Florida Series LLC" from scratch. You form a standard Florida LLC first. That LLC becomes a series LLC the moment it designates its first protected series.

HOW THE FILING ACTUALLY WORKS ON SUNBIZ

The Division of Corporations has published the mechanics, and they are refreshingly simple:

Who can file: any existing, active Florida LLC.

Cost: $25 per protected series.

Method: online only. There is no paper form for a standard designation. (Merger-related series filings are the exception and must be submitted by mail or walk-in.)

What you need: the record/document number of the filing LLC and the name you want to use.

Processing time: designations, changes, dissolutions, and cancellations submitted online are typically filed automatically within an hour or two.

Naming rules are specific. A protected series name has two parts. The first part must match the parent LLC's name exactly — the online form fills this in for you and adds a dash as a separator. The second part is yours to choose, and it must include a series identifier: "PS," "P.S.," or "Protected Series." It also has to be distinguishable from every other protected series, and it cannot contain identifiers belonging to other entity types, such as "Inc." or "GP." Florida's standard restricted-word list applies here too.

Certificates of status are available for $5, either added on to a filing or ordered separately through Sunbiz. Note that a certificate of status for the parent LLC will not state that the entity is a series LLC.

ANNUAL REPORTS: WHAT CHANGED AND WHAT DID NOT

This is the question we get most often, and the answer is good news.

The parent LLC still files a Florida annual report every year, due by May 1, at the standard LLC fee. Nothing about that changes. The report will automatically list every designated protected series that has not been cancelled or relocated.

The protected series themselves do not file annual reports. Because a series is not a distinct entity, there is no separate report and no separate annual fee for each one.

That is the practical appeal. An investor who would otherwise be filing and paying for five separate Florida LLCs every year may be able to accomplish something similar with one parent LLC and five $25 designations — while continuing to file a single annual report.

WHO IS ASKING ABOUT THIS

In the weeks since the law took effect, the interest has come from a predictable set of Florida business owners:

Real estate investors holding multiple rental properties who want each property isolated from the others.

Entrepreneurs running several unrelated product lines, brands, or e-commerce storefronts under one roof.

Contractors and equipment-heavy operators separating high-liability equipment from cash and receivables.

Family holding structures managing diversified assets.

BEFORE YOU GET EXCITED: THE HONEST CAVEATS

We would rather tell you this up front than have you find out later.

The liability shield depends on your recordkeeping. The statute conditions the protection on maintaining records that clearly and contemporaneously identify which assets belong to which series. Commingled bank accounts and sloppy books are the fastest way to lose the very protection you filed for.

The structure is new in Florida. It has not yet been tested extensively in Florida courts, and treatment by out-of-state courts, lenders, insurers, and banks can be inconsistent. Some banks are still learning how to open accounts for a series.

Tax treatment is its own conversation. How a series LLC is treated for federal and state tax purposes depends on facts specific to your situation. That is a CPA question, not a filing question.

Consolidating existing LLCs is not automatic. Moving properties or operations out of entities you already own into a new series structure raises title, financing, due-on-sale, and tax issues that deserve real review before anyone files anything.

HOW FORM AMERICA CAN HELP

Form America is a Florida-based document preparation and filing service. We handle Florida LLC formations, protected series designations, registered agent service, annual report filings, amendments, and reinstatements — accurately, on time, and without the guesswork of doing it yourself at 11 p.m. on a deadline.

Important disclosure: Form America is not a law firm and we are not attorneys. We do not provide legal advice, tax advice, or opinions about whether a protected series is the right structure for your business. Those decisions belong to you, ideally with a licensed Florida attorney and a CPA involved. What we do is prepare and file the documents you direct us to file, correctly the first time.

If you have decided a protected series designation is the right move, or you simply need a Florida LLC formed and kept in good standing, we are ready to help.

Contact Form America today to get your Florida filing handled. You can contact us at

Everything I have been preaching for years wrapped up in one article:
07/20/2026

Everything I have been preaching for years wrapped up in one article:

Turning 18 makes a legal adult out of a child overnight in the U.S., but most families don't plan for it financially until it's too late.

07/01/2026

Industry leaders work harder than anyone else, and that's why they win. When you come across them you will know. Today, I ran across one. A unicorn.

There's a guy in the insurance industry named Joseph Kohut. He leads a company called Catholic Financial Life life from Trusted Fraternal Life. He's their director of sales distribution, which means he deals with agents across the country.

Today, while he was traveling and swamped, he returned my call from the road, within an hour. Keep in mind, I don't do business with Catholic Financial Life yet. I am licensed in Florida for insurance and annuities, but it's pretty much a friends and family thing for me. Joe had no reason to prioritize my call.

Friends, he prioritizes everyone's call. I have met executives like him before. Not only is he authentic, but he probably realizes every phone call may be one step away from a blockbuster deal (as I usually am). So, he called.

Not only did he call, but after the call, from the road, he an hour or two later sent a follow up email with an illustration of what we talked about. I didn't ask for it, but he knew I could use it. Exceptional. Above and beyond. Unusual. I will use what he sent to put some business in motion.

If you have made it this far, let me tell you who his company is. As a consumer looking for life insurance or annuities, this is the type of company you want in your corner. This is the type of company you want to do business with.

Trusted Fraternal Life and Catholic Financial Life are nonprofit fraternal benefit societies that provide life insurance and other financial products while also supporting their members through charitable giving, scholarships, volunteer programs, and community service. Unlike traditional stock insurance companies that exist to generate profits for shareholders, a fraternal insurance company is a member-owned organization built around a common bond, such as religion, ethnicity, or another shared affiliation. Fraternal insurers are regulated insurance companies that offer many of the same life insurance products as traditional carriers, but they also emphasize member benefits, community involvement, and a mission of serving their membership rather than maximizing shareholder profits.

If you're in Florida, hit me up and I will connect you with them to get you a quote new or replacement life insurance, and annuities. You don't have to be a Catholic to work with them and from what I have seen, there are a ton of reasons to say YES to Trusted Fraternal Life.

John Borgen I hope you realize what a diamond in the ruff you have here. You are welcome to call me with any questions.

06/29/2026

One of the most rewarding parts of my week was helping a couple move forward with an important chapter of their lives.

Sometimes the biggest obstacle isn’t making a decision. It’s figuring out which forms to complete, how to complete them correctly, and what comes next. Being able to guide people through that process and help remove some of the stress is incredibly satisfying. Sometimes I help people on their best days and some times I help them on their worst days. I stay clinical, methodical and efficient.

Everyone’s situation is different, but it’s always rewarding to help someone gain clarity and confidence as they move forward.

It’s why I enjoy what I do. Sometimes all you need is help with the paperwork.

06/26/2026

Had the opportunity to help another family today navigate to their next chapter. This is my calling.

06/24/2026

Big change for Florida business owners:

Starting July 1, 2026, Florida will recognize the new Series LLC structure.

In simple terms, a Series LLC allows one main LLC to create separate “protected series” under it. Each series may be used for different assets, business lines, properties, or projects, while keeping separate records, assets, liabilities, members, and managers.

This may be especially useful for entrepreneurs, landlords, real estate investors, and business owners who operate more than one venture.

But this is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Series LLCs require careful setup, proper filings, and strong recordkeeping. Business owners should speak with an attorney or tax professional before deciding whether this structure is right for them.

We help Florida business owners with non-attorney document preparation and filing support.

Have questions about Florida business filings? Form America can help you understand the paperwork process. We can give you legal information, but we're not a law firm so we can't give you Legal Advice. Form America LLC is a member of the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers

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