The corporate structure of your business will provide shelter for your personal assets. There are several events that will cause a judge to disregard the corporate entity or “pierce the corporate veil.” There are several reasons why the corporate veil may be pierced. There are also several easy steps you can do to avoid the corporate veil from being pierced.
The corporate veil can be pierced if a party is tricked or misled into dealing with the corporation rather than an individual. Whenever the corporation does correspondence with a third party, the officers and directors of that company need to make it clear that they are acting on behalf of the corporation and not themselves individually. All the documents need to clearly be entered into on behalf of the corporation otherwise there may be a conflict that could arise that would pierce the corporate veil.
If the corporation is set up to never make a profit or always be insolvent it is considered too “thinly” capitalized. This could be when the corporation is formed without sufficient capital to meet potential liabilities and debts. This often occurs when an individual or group of people...