Ask a Lawyer - Archive

I went into a 50-50% partnership with a person who contributed NOTHING, no money, NOTHING. He promised to contribute as time passed, but to date has done NOTHING. Everything he needs to do business comes from my business which has been running for years before he came in as partner. The vehicle he rides to go out to jobs, the machines, everything comes from my business. We are at loggerheads over everything and he has opted to leave, but at the payment of a considerable amount. I know that with a divorce one starts 'sharing' everything which was accumulated since the wedding dated, will the same principle be used in my scenario?

You are in a mess. Presumably, nothing was reduced to writing. This highlights the importance of partners going to an attorney before starting up a business so that it is properly organized and paperwork put in place to deal with situations like this one.

Don't drag yourself down further and go see an attorney on this immediately. A typical remedy in this situation would be to take action to dissolve the partnership and have an accounting done to see who owes what to whom. While there are never any guarantees, your attorney might advise you to take the position that an accounting will show that you do not own your partner anything. It would then be encumbant upon him to come up with the money to go hire his own attorney to prove you wrong. In the meanwhile, you may be able to come up with a compromise that is mutually acceptable to both of you.