Is an operating agreement required for an LLC?

All LLCs must file an Article of Organization, a legal document incorporating the business in a specific state, but no states require that operating agreements be filed. In fact, most states have very few laws regarding the creation and documentation of an LLC operating agreement.

Does an LLC need an operating agreement?

An LLC Operating Agreement is the document wherein a Limited Liability Company memorializes its rules and structure. ... That said, many states do not require LLCs to create Operating Agreements. In fact, most do not.

Does a single member LLC need an operating agreement?

Does a single member LLC need an operating agreement? Technically, no, but it is still highly recommended. The purpose of the operating agreement is to state the operations of the LLC and set out the responsibilities of its members, including sole members, as is the case with single member LLCs.

What if an LLC has no operating agreement?

Many if not most small business limited liability companies with two or more members do not have an operating agreement. An operating agreement is the document for an LLC that provides for rules and provisions regarding the management of the LLC and the members' rights vis a vis the other members and the LLC.

Does an LLC need bylaws?

The founders of a corporation must create bylaws to govern it. An operating agreement governs an LLC -- not bylaws. According to Dartmouth University, many states do not require an LLC to have an operating agreement to register and do business in the state.

Does an operating agreement need to be notarized?

To summarize: you are not required to have the signatures on your LLC operating agreement notarized to have a valid and enforceable LLC operating agreement. You may still choose to get signatures notarized and use the old initial each page method of execution of the agreement. If that makes you feel bettergo for it.

Does an operating agreement need to be signed?

An Operating Agreement is a formal legal document that is signed by all the members (i.e. owners) of a LLC. ... Operating Agreements can be quite long and thorough. An Operating Agreement is NOT filed with the state where the LLC is formed, but is a private document kept among the owners for reference.

Does an LLC operating agreement need to be filed with the state?

All LLCs must file an Article of Organization, a legal document incorporating the business in a specific state, but no states require that operating agreements be filed. In fact, most states have very few laws regarding the creation and documentation of an LLC operating agreement.

Does an agreement need to be notarized?

There is a requirement that some documents be notarized, such as a real property deed. Unless specifically required by state or municipal law, a contract does not have to be acknowledged before a notary public. ... Any private contracts for sales of goods or services do not require a notary signature.

Do articles of organization need to be notarized?

For convenience and to avoid the need for the Articles to be notarized, the attorney who forms the corporation generally acts as the sole incorporator, and later resigns as the incorporator of the company.

Functionality index

Create and edit PDF documents online

Drop document here to upload

Select from device

Up to 100 MB for PDF and up to 25 MB for DOC, DOCX, RTF, PPT, PPTX, JPEG, PNG, JFIF, XLS, XLSX or TXT

Based on 12500+ reviews

Last updated on Jan 16, 2026

Try these PDF tools

Edit PDF

Quickly edit and annotate PDFs online.

Start now

Sign

eSign documents from anywhere.

Start now

Request signatures

Send a document for eSignature.

Start now

Share

Instantly send PDFs for review and editing.

Start now

Find forms online

Browse the online library of forms.

Start now

Merge

Combine multiple PDFs into one.

Start now

Rearrange

Rearrange pages in a PDF document.

Start now

Collaborate

Exchange comments and edit PDFs collaboratively.

Start now

Compress

Compress PDFs to reduce their size.

Start now

Convert

Convert PDFs into Word, Excel, JPG, or PPT files and vice versa.

Start now

Create from scratch

Start with a blank page.

Start now

Edit DOC

Edit Word documents.

Start now

Document creation is just the beginning

Learn more about security

Create and edit documents with a trusted solution

Try easy-to-use tools for all your document management needs.

Upload your document

pdfFiller scores top ratings on review platforms

My experience has been wonderful. I paid a lot of money for a divorce site that would allow me to use fillable forms. It was frustrating from the beginning. I started using PDFfiller instead, and requested a full refund from the other service. They refunded my money. I have had great luck finding everything I need for this divorce. Your help support is great! I would certainly recommend this company/service to anyone.

Beth S

very difficult to use -and the system does not total the # on each page like turbo tax does -not user friendly -hard to go back to add forms -that you did not originally prepare

cecil r

Was a little cumbersome at first, but was able to figure out on own which says a lot about a computer program minus an instruction booklet. Yeah, I'm a little on the geek side.

Sandra C

Kara was super helpful in resolving a… Kara was super helpful in resolving a billing issue for me. It was resolved within minutes and she made the process so easy.

Kathleen Timbinaris

PDFfiller was an easy and convenient… PDFfiller was an easy and convenient service to use. I filled out my PDF no problem and saved my documents. The customer support team was extremely helpful and accommodating when I needed to change my plan. Highly recommend!

Emma

easy to use and there are a lot of options to have things mailed, emailed, faxed, etc right with a click of a button and entering information. It does have a fee for this BUT it is SUPER convenient so honestly its a very small price to pay to not have to worry about all the extra work i would have to do myself.

Anonymous Customer

Show more Show less

Watch pdfFiller eSignatures in action

Check out a quick video tutorial that shows how to create and place your signature or send a document for signing.

Related features

Create and edit documents with a trusted solution

Try easy-to-use tools for all your document management needs.

Upload your document