When you enter a business partnership, you want everything to go smoothly. However, a partnership dispute is likely to happen at some point, and it is important to know how to handle it.
Immediately filing a business lawsuit and heading to court is not usually in your best interest, for obvious reasons. Litigating your partnership dispute is likely to increase negative, bitter feelings between you and your partner, and even if you win, your partnership might be forever altered or dissolve altogether.
Do not panic when a partnership dispute arises. Naturally, sometimes you and your partner will not agree on everything.
Address disputes in your partnership agreement
One of the best ways to increase your chance of resolving your partnership dispute is to address the situation in your partnership agreement. Many partnerships choose to use mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution to resolve disputes and include language in their agreement requiring this prior to filing a lawsuit.
Keep the unique needs of your business in mind when drafting this language. Using boilerplate language that is not tailored to your business can lead to confusion or additional disagreements.
Plan a time to thoroughly discuss the dispute
You can still choose to mediate without being required to in your agreement, or you can informally discuss the issue. Whatever you do, give yourself plenty of time. Do not talk about the issue while one of you is focused on other things or try to quickly discuss it during short breaks during the workday.
Set aside a specific day and time to talk only about the dispute and give yourself a couple of hours. If you have not resolved it after that, take a break and come back another time.
Don’t give up too early
Expect that you might not resolve the dispute in one meeting. Sometimes it could take a series of meetings. Use the time in between meetings to reflect on what occurred at the last one and carefully think things through.
There are times when disputes simply cannot be resolved. At that point, think about the next steps, which could mean business litigation or dissolving your partnership.