Creating a business with a friend or acquaintance can often set you up for success, allowing you to divide the labor and more easily bring in the necessary capital to get things going. However, it is important for an entrepreneur to also think about the long-term when forming a business based on a handshake and an understanding.
A Virginia partnership agreement lawyer could help you start a business relationship right by putting your expectations into writing. By memorializing key parts of the relationship and business, you can avoid issues down the road and clarify how to handle unique situations.
A partnership can run a business based on very little documentation. At a base level, a partnership can be created by an agreement of more than one person to conduct business, typically for profit. If a partnership starts off in this manner, default state rules apply to certain things, such as how decisions are made by the partners and their liability for the business, which is usually unlimited and personal. Therefore, a partnership can create risks for the partners.
By creating a legitimate agreement between you and your partner or partners, you can be sure of how the partnership will operate and how the business will be run. With the help of a Virginia business attorney, you can have a partnership agreement that accurately represents how you and your partners want to proceed in the business.
A partnership agreement should be based on a careful evaluation of your company, capital needs, and lines of business. This agreement becomes the bedrock of your business structure by laying out the relationship between the partners and clarifying aspects of business management, acting as a governing contract between the partners for the entire endeavor.
For example, a partnership agreement can lay out different percentages of interest in the business for each partner and describe how distributions of profits and losses will work as the business grows. The agreement can also provide information about how partners can transfer their interest or the right to receive profits based on their interest.
Fortunately, a partnership agreement attorney in Virginia could work with you to draft an agreement that best serves your needs. A legal professional could take the time and care to understand your business and your goals, as well as the wishes of you and your partners in designing the partnership.
Crafting a partnership agreement with the aid of a lawyer could also allow you to modify default rules set out by the Virginia Uniform Partnership Act, including voting procedures between the partners, transferring partnership interests, and how amending the agreement as circumstances change. By consulting with an attorney, you could make sure that the partnership operates smoothly and within the expectations of each party.
Starting a business or bringing in new business partners and investments can present various unknowns. Creating a written agreement to govern the business can provide certainty moving forward, protecting the business from misunderstandings between partners and even hostile takeovers by one or more partners.
Working with a Virginia partnership agreement lawyer could ensure that the agreement you get is the one that best serves your business. Our Handshake portal lays out how to get started on your partnership agreement, with our business attorneys ready to help you and your interests. Contact our office to learn more about a partnership agreement for your business today.
When setting up your company or preparing business agreements, a well-practiced Virginia business lawyer could help save you from future headaches and costly litigation.
The legal professionals at our firm use our Handshake Portal to help get you started in the right direction for your contractual needs without the complicated legal jargon. To help minimize your legal costs, we provide these services at a fixed fee rate. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and get started.
