I had a "partner" and we had an oral agreement for him to buy me out of our financial advising partnership over 10 or 12 years; he violated the agreement and stopped paying me after 4 payments in 2008. He owes me between my half of our business worth between $750,000 and 2 million dollars. I need help and it must be a contingency, because he has precluded paying me.
-- Jon
A.
Subject to many and various exceptions, oral agreements are just as enforceable as written ones. One such exception that may be a big problem for you here, though, is that oral agreements that cannot be performed within a year may be unenforceable. Another big problem for you in trying to enforce an oral agreement is that there will inevitably be a big disagreement between the parties as to what the terms were. Furthermore, you may think your former "partner" has a lot of assets that would encourage an attorney to take this matter on a contingency fee, but it is never as easy as one might think to collect a judgment against someone. The fact that you got paid something could work to your benefit since it may be evidence of partial performance.
Given the problems as noted, though, it may be difficult for you to convince an attorney to take this case on contingency. Your situation underscores why it is almost always important to reduce buy-sell agreements to writing.
