Partnership formation

Before you begin

Contribution, profit sharing and management authority need to be agreed together. The deed should also address borrowing, admission, retirement, death, dissolution and the treatment of existing business assets.

Prepare a decision sheet before drafting: what each partner contributes, which assets remain personally owned, who works in the business and how spending decisions are made. Record unresolved points explicitly so a signature does not conceal different expectations.

What the engagement covers

We help translate the agreed terms into documentation, identify the relevant state registration route and organise the supporting record set. Tax and activity registrations are identified separately.

1. Collect the agreed commercial terms and identify inconsistencies between them.
2. Prepare the deed and execution plan within the agreed drafting scope.
3. Coordinate the applicable registration work and retain submission references and authority correspondence.
4. Hand over the executed deed, agreed opening records and a list of separate tax, banking or activity-registration actions.

Keep a clear version history through negotiation and signing. A draft shared for discussion should not be used as if it were the final executed record.

Records to prepare

• Partner particulars
• business and premises details
• opening contributions
• profit and loss sharing
• existing assets, liabilities and contracts proposed for the firm.

For an existing operation moving into the firm, list customer contracts, stock, equipment, borrowings and pending claims separately. Identify whose name appears on each record and what further documentation needs assessment. An opening asset list alone does not establish that every contract or permission has transferred.

A decision worth resolving early

A partner’s ability to sign a customer contract should match the agreed authority. Discuss transaction limits and guarantees expressly instead of relying on an informal understanding.

For example, two partners may agree that either can manage routine purchases but want joint decisions for borrowing. Capture that distinction in the drafting instructions and the bank-authority discussion. Also decide how the partners will see financial records and resolve disputed expenditure.

Scope and fees

The proposal separates commercial drafting, execution coordination and state registration work. Transfers of property, disputed partner claims, specialist tax advice and subsequent amendments require an express scope. At handover, identify who holds the executed original, who maintains the accounts and who follows up pending applications. See the partnership-firm guide for the continuing operating context.

Government charges and any execution costs are identified separately from professional fees. Completion timing depends on the information, signatures and authority process relevant to the assignment.