While there is no legal requirement for a partnership to put a partnership agreement in place, the majority do tend to use them to define specific details of their partnership, such as: Varying degrees of capital contributed. Profit (and loss) sharing.
For example, when there is no partnership agreement specifying the terms on which a partner can leave the business, the partners will have to follow the default rules. Under the default rules, the partnership would need to be dissolved and re-formed when one of the partners wants to leave the business.
While there is no legal requirement for a partnership to put a partnership agreement in place, the majority do tend to use them to define specific details of their partnership, such as: Varying degrees of capital contributed. Profit (and loss) sharing.
Although California law does not require a partnership to have a written agreement, a well written partnership agreement is strongly recommended because: (1) the default partnership rules typically do not mirror the partners' intent; (2) a clearly written partnership agreement will set forth the essential terms and ...
Written partnership agreements are not required by law, but whenever you and at least one other person decide to go into business together, you should draft one as soon as possible.
If, as a Partnership, there has been no Partnership Agreement drawn up, the default provisions may come as a surprise, including to some of the actual Partners! Examples of some default provisions of the Act include: Partners must share equally in capital and profits (regardless of their initial capital contributions);
Without a written agreement stating otherwise, the default rule is that each partner in a partnership is entitled to an equal share of the partnership profits. While this may be intended when each partner contributes similar value to a partnership, it can be less than ideal where the contributions are asymmetrical.
However, if you have no written business agreement in place, you may be unable to carry out the day-to-day tasks of the partnership, like paying yourself a salary. Instead, you and your partner may need to wait until the end of each year and split the partnership's profits and losses equally.
Consult with an attorney. Before you draft or sign a partnership agreement, consult an experienced business attorney to protect everyone's investment in the partnership and business.