Hunt & Associates P.C.

Ownership Issues

Managing Ownership Issues and Resolving Disputes in Oregon

For small businesses, professional practice groups, partnerships and closely held corporations, continuing attention to relationships within the ownership group is the best way to keep the motivations and rewards of each principal moving in the same direction as that of the company as a whole.

For practical advice about the best ways to keep in front of the minor misunderstandings that might eventually become major disputes, contact an experienced business attorney at Hunt & Associates in Portland.

Addressing Issues in Ownership Groups at the Front End

In the formative stages of a partnership or corporation, it makes sense to define the roles, rights and responsibilities of each principal while anticipating the circumstances that could trigger a legal response or the revision of a shareholder or partnership agreement. If a principal leaves, what happens to his or her interest? What if an owner dies or becomes incapacitated? What will happen if the ownership interest becomes a property division issue in a principal’s divorce or in a probate of the principal’s estate?

At Hunt & Associates, our decades of experience with the definition, application and revision of shareholders’ and partners’ rights can help you find a way past the problems that can arise when circumstances change within ownership groups.

We also help companies find solutions to the problems that might result from the sale of an owner’s interest, a principal’s inability to follow through on buy-sell rights, or the violation of noncompete or confidentiality terms when an equity group breaks up on contentious terms.

Our attorneys act as honest brokers in negotiating a solution to ownership problems when we represent a business. We make it clear that we’re acting as counsel for the entity as a whole, not any individual interest. If we have no prior attorney-client relationship with the company we can represent the interests of individual principals when threatened by the breach of contractual commitments by others.

Proper Attention to Ownership Issues Can Avoid Problems When You Sell

Our experience with business entities of all kinds can be especially helpful when your group has the chance to sell the company to a third party. We can advise your group or individual interests — never both — about the fairest ways to structure and divide the proceeds of sale under your existing shareholder or partnership agreements.

Our lawyers also help straighten out the complications that can result from uneven infusions of capital over time, the employment of some of the principals by the purchasing group, or the terms of consulting relationships between selling principals and the buyers.

If an ownership problem boils over into litigation, our experience with the resolution of disputes through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or trial can help you find an effective way to protect your interests.

Contact a lawyer at Hunt & Associates for further information about our ability to advise you or your company about ownership issues before or after they come to a head.