Business disputes can arise over the course of the business between directors, shareholders, and business partners and often relate to disputes over contributions/efforts, diverse opinions regarding the business operation, management, or regarding lack of clarification on what each person is responsible for in the business.
These types of disputes generally escalate quickly, so prompt legal advice and assistance should be sought just as quickly to attempt to minimise the need for litigation. Disputes can often be resolved without the need to escalate the matter further and we take careful time and consideration in exploring each parties’ interests in the dispute and assist our clients in achieving the best possible outcome to save you time and money.
Time should be taken to consider various agreements including:
The involved parties can often find it hard to communicate with each other and that is why legal advice and mediation in the early stages are important and can build the pathway for how the dispute is negotiated and/overall outcome is resolved.
By acting early, you will minimise the disruption of business operations and trading or allow business partners to dissolve the agreement appropriately and move on.
Directors have a responsibility under the Corporations Act 2001, common law and the company’s constitution, and it is important directors understand these responsibilities that they hold to shareholders, as shareholders have grounds to seek redress if they feel they are being treated impartially or the director is in breach of the shareholder’s agreement.
Following this, the director holds further responsibilities if the company is trading insolvent or potential for insolvency and the director’s duties will also branch out to creditors. To find out more, visit our information on director responsibility.
It is important that as a director of a company, you seek urgent legal advice to ensure you are well informed of your duties and obligations.
Kingsford Lawyers receive a high volume of inquiries relating to Shareholder Agreement Disputes, and we often find the current shareholder’s agreements that our clients have in place are lacking the required and sufficient clauses to correctly outline the terms, rights and obligations of each party.
You should always have a shareholders agreement drafted by an experienced lawyer who understands these key issues, and although it’s near impossible to predict all issues, having a thorough shareholders agreement to include these important clauses and issues such as, ‘buy out’ or ‘sale’ options, agreed financial contributions, and what happens to intellectual property or if a partner was to pass away, and the process for dispute resolution which will, in turn, save all parties a lot of energy, money and time spent on legal proceedings.
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