Have each person’s actual status and intended work assessed. Ownership, family connection or informal help does not itself establish immigration work permission. Decide early who in the household actually needs to earn. That answer, not the family’s willingness to pitch in, drives the planning. A qualifying L-2 spouse is employment authorized incident to status, which is a real advantage; children in dependent status gain nothing of the sort, and an adult child hoping to work at the operation needs a route and a permission of their own. Settle that before anyone counts on a second income.
Use individual authorization for the intended activity
Qualifying L spouses are employment authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation. Children gain no work permission solely through L dependent status. Do not assume unpaid assistance automatically falls outside work-authorization questions.
Unpaid help deserves its own decision rather than an assumption. Where a family member would perform work the business would otherwise pay someone to do, treat it as work and have the activity assessed before it starts. Where the family owns the enterprise, the temptation is stronger and the record is worse: nobody issues a pay stub, so little exists afterwards to show what was and was not done.
Agree in advance which tasks each person will perform, write it down, and keep the arrangement consistent with the status each person actually holds.