WHERE'S THE BEEF?

There was a man who had two sons, and they formed an LLC for their cattle ranch.  The Father was the Manager, and his Sons were Members of the LLC.  

Not the same but you get the point!

They very much needed a new barn.  The old one was collapsing, and the cows were getting wet in the winter, and sunburned in the summer.  So the Father and his Sons decided to sell the west pasture and use the proceeds to build a new barn.  They found a buyer and were scheduled to close when the Younger Son came to his Father and said, “Father, give me my share of the inheritance and I shall go and purchase more land so we can increase the herd, and then we can afford to rebuild the barn because we will have more beef to sell.”

But the Father refused because he’d read the Bible, and he knew the Younger Son would only go and squander the money.  

So the Younger Son went to the Title Company and told them not to disperse the funds from the sale.  He thought if he could threaten the closing that his Father would be forced to grant his request.  But his words fell on deaf ears at the Title Company.  

Following the corporate structure of the LLC, the Title Company is only obligated to follow the directions of the LLC Manager.  The Younger Son was a Member of the LLC, not a Manager; therefore, the Title Company would not act on his demand.  

The sale went through, and to celebrate, the Father killed the fatted calf and gave it to his Older Son, which left his Younger Son to wonder, “Where’s the beef?”  This was not how the story went in the Bible and the Younger Son was confused, but that was because he hadn’t read the LLC agreement.  

Whether you’re in an LLC, a Partnership, or a Trust, don’t wait for the cows to come home to know where the meat of your benefits lie versus your liabilities within these different types of business arrangements.  

From Land Title Talk Podcast

August 6, 2025

Written by Stephen Collins and CJ Godwin