Anonymous business ownership in Alabama
Alabama law allows an ownership structure where your LLC is owned by a trust, and the trust’s trustee is a law firm. Public records show the law firm; your identity stays protected by attorney-client privilege. Legitimate privacy — not concealment.
These are the questions that matter most when you’re thinking about privacy in ownership.
How does it work?
Alabama lets the member (owner) of an LLC be a trust, and the trustee of that trust be a law firm. So the public filings — the Secretary of State record, deeds, business licenses — show only the law firm, listed as trustee. Behind that listing, you hold full beneficial ownership and control.
What’s public
The law firm
State filings and deeds show “the law firm, as trustee” — not your name.
What’s private
You
You keep full ownership, income, and control through the trust — your identity stays off the public record.
Is this legal, or hiding assets?
This is privacy by structure, not concealment. Your identity is shielded by attorney-client privilege under Alabama Code Section 12-21-161 — the same privilege that protects any client’s confidential dealings with their attorney. But privilege has firm limits, and this is built to withstand scrutiny.
What it is
Legitimate privacy
- Your name stays off public filings
- You keep full ownership and control
- Fully reportable to lenders and tax authorities
What it isn’t
Not a shield for fraud
- Privilege never covers crime or fraud
- Not a way to dodge legitimate creditors or disclosure
- Every part rests on ordinary legal rules
What does it look like in practice?
For someone whose name is attached to many public filings, structure can restore a good deal of privacy.
In his own name
Everything is searchable
James Caldwell owns his practice, rentals, and investments in his own name. Every deed and filing is public — anyone can tie his whole footprint to him, inviting solicitation and opportunistic lawsuits.
Through the structure
Off the public record
James holds his ventures through an LLC owned by a trust with the law firm as trustee. Public records show the firm; James keeps full ownership and control — with far less of his life searchable by name.
James Caldwell is a composite example used to show how the structure works — not a real client.
Do I need private ownership?
Five short choices. Brent reads your answer back to you at the end.
A 30-second guided quiz. Get a personal read on whether a privacy structure fits.
How Brent helps you
- Looks at whether a privacy structure genuinely fits your situation
- Sets up the LLC, trust, and law-firm-trustee arrangement correctly
- Keeps you in full beneficial ownership and control throughout
- Builds it as legitimate privacy — fully reportable where the law requires
