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Chapter 605 — Limited Liability Companies

Florida Statute 605.0105

Operating agreement; scope, function, and limitations

What it means

Florida's LLC act is mostly a set of default rules. Under §605.0105, the operating agreement governs relations among the members, the rights and duties of managers, and the company's activities and affairs — Chapter 605 fills in only where the agreement is silent.

Subsection (3) lists what an agreement may not do: eliminate the duty of loyalty or the duty of care, gut the obligation of good faith and fair dealing, excuse bad faith or a knowing violation of law, or unreasonably restrict a member's information rights. Directing where a member's interest goes at death is not on that list — so a valid operating agreement can control it, even against a later will.

— What it says
  • The operating agreement governs member relations, manager duties, and company affairs; Chapter 605 applies only where the agreement is silent (§605.0105(1)–(2)).
  • Subsection (3) is the forbidden list: no eliminating the duties of loyalty or care, no excusing bad faith or knowing violations of law.
  • An agreement may not unreasonably restrict a member's information rights or right to maintain an action.
  • Fiduciary duties may be altered only if not manifestly unreasonable — judged as of when the term was adopted (§605.0105(4)–(5)).
  • Death transfers are not on the forbidden list: an agreement may vest a member's interest in named people at death, outside the will.
— In a real probate

How it plays out

In probate we read the operating agreement before the will. Blechman v. Estate of Blechman, 160 So. 3d 152 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015), enforced an agreement that vested a member's interest in his children at the moment of death — the interest never became a probate asset, and the will had nothing to reach. When an estate holds an LLC interest, the first question is not what the will says; it is what the members signed. Families are regularly surprised by which document wins.

Questions people ask

Can an LLC operating agreement override a will in Florida?
As to the membership interest, yes. A provision vesting a member's interest in named persons at death is a contract, enforced in Blechman v. Estate of Blechman (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). Florida Statute 605.0105 does not forbid it, so the interest passes outside the will.
The official text
This page is a plain-English summary, verified against the 2026 Florida Statutes — it is not the statute, and it isn't legal advice for your situation.
Read § 605.0105
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