For some of the practices with which I have had recent dealings the very title of this short article feature will spark alarm as there are some still significant numbers of practices operating that have no written partnership or expense share agreement in place. For others, the documents were either poorly drafted in the first place or have not been revisited to reflect modern practice.
The purpose of a partnership formal written agreement is to ensure that there is a framework for the running of the business, to ensure that there is something to revert back to in the event that difficulties arise and to cover circumstances in which the business arrangements can be modified or indeed dissolved as necessary. Whilst there is both time and cost involved in the creation of a suitable agreement this is as nothing by comparison with what can arise if no agreement is in place and this task is best addressed at the outset of an arrangement or as soon as possible whilst there is a strong agreement between the parties involved.
Whilst ultimately an agreement will need to be formalised using a suitable firm of solicitors, as business consultants to dental practices we have over the years been instrumental in the creation of a number of framework agreements through amicable discussion and agreement with the parties involved prior to the creation of formal documentation and I can assure you that from our point of view the experience is far more pleasant and satisfying than those in which we have been asked to mediate in arrangements that have gone wrong with no suitable agreement in place!