If you are in business in partnership, or intend to establish a partnership, you should consider drawing up a partnership agreement.

The purpose of such an agreement is to document what shareholders have agreed should be the practices in the business, who should do what and who should be entitled to what.

Such an agreement can be brief or very comprehensive - there is no set formula. It can include issues such as, for example, holiday entitlements for those working in the business, specific areas of responsibility for individuals and indeed, anything else which the partners desire to see recorded and agreed.

The advantage of having a partnership agreement is that it can predetermine what otherwise might become contentious future issues by recording what was originally agreed, rather than leaving different individuals to recall what they thought was "understood".

For further information please contact Mark Hammond.