Understanding the Corporate Veil: Strategies to Maintain and Pierce Limited Liability (2025 Edition)

The LLC has become the default holding vehicle — formed online in minutes, often with no operating agreement and no ongoing formalities — and owners treat the filing itself as the protection. Courts do not. Alter ego liability turns on conduct, not the certificate, and a plaintiff who shows commingled funds, undercapitalization, or ignored formalities reaches straight through to the owner’s personal assets. The exposure is sharpest for single-member LLCs, where the line between member and entity blurs by default, while closely held and family-owned entities add fiduciary-duty risk for officers and managers. Transactional counsel who form entities and never…