Ending a New York business partnership by bringing in a mediator to help you work out your problems offers a less adversarial and more productive atmosphere for negotiating the final dissolution of your business. In preparing for your upcoming mediation, you will want to work out in advance the issues that your mediator will help you resolve. Doing so will help the mediation proceed efficiently.
Per Chron.com, you and your business partner should identify why you wish to end your partnership in the first place. The reasons why you want to end your business arrangement will help you and your partner understand what issues your mediator will help you resolve. For instance, if a partner is leaving due to financial insolvency, you may need to resolve your partner’s remaining financial obligations to the business in the mediation.
The fate of the business will be another issue. Some partnerships spell the end of the business itself. However, this is not always the case. One partner may wish to continue on with the company after the other partner leaves. If your company is to be ended along with the partnership, more issues, such as all partnership affairs and third party contracts, will need to be dealt with.
Partners that are readying to enter mediation should also define the liabilities and assets owned by the partners. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to resolve disagreements if the partners lack a common understanding of the finances of their company. Making sure assets and liabilities are known helps the mediator to guide the partners toward productive solutions.
Additionally, as Chron.com explains, you will also need to set a specific time to put an end to the partnership. Some partners do not dissolve their arrangement as soon as possible, instead allowing some time until the end. Some partnership agreements already have a time limit built into them, but if this is not the case for your partnership, you and your partner can set down a mutually agreed time to bring the partnership to a close.