Owning real estate, partnerships in LLC, Corporations, and Sole Proprietor

[kmin]

Oh, boy do I have some questions.....

Ok so we are having a great time together and everything is going fine.  In fact it is going great, however we have a few things that have come up, business opportunities.

So we are now in the process of forming an LLC or Corporation with my Wife taking a minority % for the ownership of a mixed use residential and commercial building (to be built).  She would also be the sole owner of the development corporation doing the development. I would be constructor of the project as a Construction Manager delivery method, under my current corporation for which I am the sole owner.

Due to fiscal concerns and wanting to establish my wife into the process and business we have decided upon the above structure.  Yet this raises concerns about any special requirements for a K1 (married, but in process of receiving the permanent green card {we have her temp work permit and SSN} ) as a conditional resident.  She will own a portion of the LLC or Corp which will own the building which is real estate here in the USA.

Has anyone gone through this process of owning real estate and/or businesses as a  K1 married but in process of AOS?  Any special requirements we should be aware of?  FYI I do have one of the best attorneys on retainer, but keeping his hours low will save a lot of money.  Your help would be appreciated.

[Goombah]

Plenty of books on this for reference with titles like "Owning your own corporation"...  I have several on my shelves <smile>.

If memory serves (which means you sure better double check it!) only S-Corps have restrictions on foreign ownership.  Be careful with LLCs - they are the legal babies of the Corporation legal world.  The easiest of those to set up is a "disregarded entity" (about 20 minutes online and something like $20 in the state of Missouri) - those are handy if your going to handle everything through your personal taxes, but need to be sole-proprietors (one owner) I believe.  A two-owner company would be a legal partnership, even if it has an LLC name.  Remember that LLC is Liability Limited Company, not Liability Limited Corporation - Corporations are their own legal entity and are more complex to run.  We have a C-Corp that does real-estate - and I have to use a professional tax guy to do those taxes.  Turbo-tax is fine for disregarded entity LLCs.

Oh, before you ask:  Q: Why a C-Corp for real-estate?  A:  To keep my ex's hands off any profits (not that its made any compliments of the housing market).