Verbal Partnership

[Ken-Adams]

Hey im looking for abit of advice please

I entered a verbal 50/50 partnership with a life long friend just over 12 months ago (we both owned seperate small cleaning companies)

We made a verbal agreement with my accountant that we would both have our own businesses valued by her and then he would then put money into business to equalise the value within 12 months (as my business was 4x more profitable)

Now 12 months has passed and no monies have been paid in and futher more he has refused to send in his books into the accountant to value his business

Does this mean he has broken his verbal agreement and it is now void?

After emailing him today for an explanation the response i got was that, "NO verbal agreement was ever made", ending with "dont forget it was your accountant not mine".

Is there any legal implications because it was my accountant?

Ive spoken to my accountant and she has assured me that she is under no illusion about what he agreed to do and has already expressed that she would have no hesitation to back me up in court should it go this far.

Regards

Ken

 

[Ken-Adams]

I spoke to our main client today and he told me that my partner had been in contact with him a few months ago to ask what would happen if the partnership was to split would he still have a contract with the client

It seems like he has been planning this for a while...

 

[Kernowman]

Verbal partnerships always seem to end in tears and I had a painful lesson myself a few years ago which of course have learned from and won't repeat again.

Your partner is just using the accountant as a scapegoat and another means of fobbing you off. I know of no accountants that are willing to put their professional necks on the block to justify one of their client's actions, which is confirmed by her solidarity with your position.

I will bet too that apart from approaching your main client he has done quite a bit of spadework that you don't know about yet, so take a very close look at the bank accounts and any other third parties you work with as well.

What can you do about? Very little really unless you can uncover deliberate fraud.