Maine LLC governance: a modern uniform-act floor with an equal-shares default

Maine governs LLCs under the modern uniform act, so its rules look like the other floor states: the duties of loyalty and care and the obligation of good faith are a floor the operating agreement can shape but cannot eliminate, and distributions default to equal shares. There is no Maine-specific twist in the governance rules; the state adopts the uniform pattern cleanly. That makes the operating agreement the document that matters, because the defaults rarely match a real deal and the room the act allows on duties has to be used deliberately. The general mechanics are on the site’s default rules and freedom of contract guides; here is what Maine’s version fixes and what it leaves to you.

The floor and the split

Start with the duties the agreement cannot waive.

In Maine, the operating agreement cannot eliminate the duties of loyalty and care or the obligation of good faith.

Under Maine’s uniform act, members of a member-managed LLC and managers of a manager-managed one owe the duties of loyalty and care and an obligation of good faith, and the operating agreement may not eliminate them, though it may identify categories of permitted activities so long as they are not manifestly unreasonable. So Maine sits with Connecticut, Iowa, and the other floor states, and against the Delaware freedom-of-contract camp: a manager cannot draft himself out of accountability, but the agreement can channel the loyalty duty to fit a real estate operation with affiliated dealings. The economics default the uniform way.

When a Maine operating agreement is silent, distributions are shared equally among the members, not by contribution.

Maine distributes equally among the members by default, a per-capita rule rather than one weighted by capital, so a member who contributed most of the money receives the same share as one who contributed little unless the agreement provides otherwise, which for a real estate venture with unequal contributions almost never matches the intent. Management defaults to the members unless the agreement provides for managers. The lesson is the standard floor-state one: the act protects members with a duty floor and then leaves the deal terms, the split, the management structure, the permitted affiliated conduct, to the agreement, so a Maine LLC without a real operating agreement runs on defaults that fit almost no actual venture.

The bottom line

Maine uses the modern uniform act, so the duties of loyalty and care and the obligation of good faith are a floor the operating agreement cannot eliminate.

Distributions default to equal shares regardless of contribution, so an LLC with unequal contributions must set the split in the agreement.

Management defaults to the members unless the agreement provides for managers.

The agreement may identify permitted activities that channel the loyalty duty, but only if they are not manifestly unreasonable, a line Maine has not sharply drawn.

A Maine LLC without a real operating agreement runs on defaults that fit almost no actual venture, so the agreement is where the deal is set.

What this page does not cover

This page is about the rules that run your company from the inside. How creditors reach a member’s interest, the indexed homestead, and the missing entireties shield are on the protection page. Maine’s high income tax, the estate tax below the federal threshold, and the lack of a series LLC are on the structure and cost page. The $175 formation fee and the $85 annual report due June 1 are on the filing page.

Last verified August 2026.