Unlock the Power of Legally Binding Business Partnerships with eSignature Lawfulness in the United Kingdom

How to eSign a document: eSignature lawfulness for Business partnership agreement in United Kingdom

shareholder agreements and partnership agreements this short clip should give you some with the practical advice that you need in order to avoid shareholder and partnership disputes my name is Susan singleton I'm an English solicitor and I have never had so many disputes as we have had in the last 12 months because people have not agreed things in writing my firm is singleton solicitors we do a lot of shareholder and company law disputes website single or com so what can you do some essential pieces of guidance now for people who just cannot get things in writing and alter - first of all have an agreement you feel you can't afford a lawyer fine have something in writing why time and again do we have disputes where the parties have nothing in writing they couldn't even spend five minutes writing down what their profit shares would be it's not very hard so if you're forming a limited company you should have a shareholder agreement now you might have a small percentage of the shares that gives you very little power believe it or not so give yourself more power minority protection for shareholders is a key part of what we put into shareholders agreements when were acting for the minority shareholder you do have some rights under the Companies Act 2006 and indeed I had a big case last year on this which we won however you're much better off with a written shareholders agreement with minority protection that would cover things like a percentage of the shares that you own whether that percentage could be reduced diluted what happens if one of you dies or wants to leave how much effort will each put into the arrangement there might be sweat equity there might be money put in lots of times shoulders fall out because one is working harder than the other get it in light you might love your partner or fellow shareholder you might have gone to school with them for 50 years ago you might not be able to end visit that you could ever all out but believe it or not we've seen it time and again the bosoms buddies the lovers the very old friends they fall out and what do they fall Bakkal often nothing so they're litigating they're spending 25 times what they'd have spent on half an hour with a lawyer checking things out beforehand anyway I don't mind picking up the pieces but if you have pieces to pick up come here because I'll keep you away from the court and I'll resolve the dispute but get it in writing first and then you won't be coming to me you'd be grateful you'll be spared it so we've got two copies out sun protection get minority protection in there have a full contract that's fine you might need to change the company's articles of association too because they must reflect the shareholders agreement so you would have an obligation to register that at company's house if you're not forming a limited company you're probably going into partnership together that's probably a standard partnership it's the partnership Act 1890 lists applies in that situation you can give notice to terminate a partnership however it's much better again to have it set out in write it will do you so much good later if there's a written agreement about who does what to can terminate etc they're not hard things to draw at all you need to cover eventualities and if you've got a 50-50 arrangement and particularly going back to shareholders agreements now you may need to have situations where you can resolve a deadlock and last of all as I'm keeping this brief if you have got a company that you own jointly with a 50% shareholder be aware that under the Companies Act you can not terminate the directorship unless more than 50% of the shareholders agree so the person with 51% can always sack their co director whatever the contract says in English law and lots of international contracts being to Iran Dubai Switzerland this year on business however here we're talking about English law and always make sure the contract says which countries knows and that's just a little flavor or taste for the types of issues that you might want to cover if you come to wanting to sell a business then again have it in writing do your due diligence and come ideally to expert lawyers our deal with sales of a business and I'm actually the author of this book Bezeq and wine which is about buying and selling businesses and that some helps you be involved in a sale but some principally there'll be many fewer disputes if you get it in writing now if you need legal advice amongst many other firms you could come to me and Susan singleton my firm in London is called Singleton's solicitors my website is single law.com my email address is Susan at single or com I give about 50 legal talks a year as well so by all means book a course single law calm with and also written 30 law books I'm quite easy to find good luck with the arrangements do get it in writing that's my tip for today have written contracts the end of the lesson