Legal advice

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eagle85

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Could anyone advise me on my problem which is as follows. I entered a business partnership with another person, we regestered as a partnership and got cert etc however we never set anything legal up. We took over a contract from a national courier service to run the operation in the west of Ireland (no contract was signed-we took over on a trial basis) but since day one relations between myself and partner were bad. We both invested €10k into the business (nothing legal was exchanged). Because of bad relations the national courier service who we got the contract off decided to give the contract to my partner as he has more experience and basically told me that i can longer be involved in it.

I have approached my old partner whom is still trading under cmpany name we set up who now says he will not give me any of my investment back nor will he pay me wages that i am owed. We had a joint bank account for the business and i got statements from bank today which show that he made numerous transfers through banking online from business account to personal account. I have made appointment with my solicitor for tommorrow but i am just at a loss on where i stand and i would like some advise .... have i a leg to stand on with no legal documents signed... can he just tell me to bow out ?
 
Re: Legal advise

You did set up something legal; it's just that you don't seem to have recorded it in writing. Partnership law provides that profits and losses be shared equally in the absence of clear agreement to something different.

Second, even though you might not have had a written contract with the national service, you had a contract. [Most contracts are not in written form.]

So it is probably the case that from the date you invested your money (or some other key event like that) until the date the national service made a new contract with the other party you and he traded as a partnership.

The law on dissolution of a partnership is fairly clear. You have two legs to stand on. Unless the business lost €20k during the partnership period, you should get some of your investment back. Your difficulty might be with financial records. You might need the help of somebody like an accountant to figure out the details.

Just a detail: Based on what you say, I think that it's probably not a company name that you set up, but a partnership's business name. He might have a bit of difficulty if the name belongs to you jointly.

Happy hunting!
 
Re: Legal advise

Thank you for your reply at least it gives me some hope ... Would you know where i might stand on him transferring money into his personal account ? Also we had to work 1 month in advance for the national company so the payment we would receive Dec 1st would be from work carried out in October and Jan 1st for work carried out in November. I am only afraid that the payment will be made out to him and i will never see any of it. Do you have any advise as to what could i do to stop him from getting payment
 
Re: Legal advise

It's because of his transferring money from a business account to a personal account that I think you need somebody like an accountant to get involved. The fact that he did it does not mean that he had any right to do it. It wasn't necessarily wrong either, so long as everything is recorded and traceable.

Similarly, any money earned during the period of the partnership belongs to both of you, and it doesn't matter greatly if the payment was made in his name, the business name, or even a cash payment.

It looks to me as if there is a lack of trust between you. That's yet another reason to get a professional involved in helping you to unscramble the situation.

On the assumption that your outline description is more-or-less fair, I think you almost certainly have some rights in this matter. You are right to have some hope. But, for your own peace of mind, don't build too much on it. If there is bad feeling between you, and if he is determined, he can make it very difficult for you to get your due. Don't go spending a few grand this week in the expectation that you will have lumps of money coming to you next week.

[As a negotiating tactic, it might be worth drawing to your former partner's attention that a lawsuit alleging fraud can be very damaging to a courier business. It might encourage him to reach a settlement with you in preference to going to court.]
 
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