

Ask HN: Family Business Goes South - throwaway-story

tl;dr Family starts brick &#38; mortar business, founders dispute, how to deal with aftermath.<p>Long version: Two family members and I started a bar business located in Arkansas. First business venture for all of us, and therefore we didn't know anything about vesting or the like. We have an LLC with 1/3 ownership per partner, no exit-clauses, no vesting, no special cases. Basically the minimum paperwork you could have filed. We took out a loan and also all invested a small (mid 4-figure) amount.<p>There was a business-related dispute that turned personal after about one month. One family member--we'll call him Angry--walked out and has not been back in in over two years. He has not spoken to either of us regarding the business. If relevant, the dispute was about how to run the business, Angry didn't agree, and it had to do with changing a couple of trivial things he had been doing. It was presented well (we weren't shitty) and culminated in several "fuck you guys" from Angry.<p>This has been a lingering shadow for two years, and we'd like to handle it--especially because I plan to depart from the business myself. We have opened a dialogue with Angry, who appears to believe he's owed 1/3 of the "profits"--disregarding our (time) investment (over 15,000 hours combined) vs his (about 70 hours the first month). Also, if relevant, profits are negligible (think breakeven) not counting a VERY meager draw the remaining founders have taken weekly.<p>What do you think? The paper says he's owed it, correct? Do we have any (legal) recourse? Is there a way to "make things right?" What's right? Angry will seek the maximum money, regardless of morals/values/etc.<p>Also, lessons learned: vest shares, don't mix biz and family, take care of this way sooner.
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tstegart
Being a lawyer, I'm pretty sure this is a lawyer question, not a "Ask HN"
question. Everyone here with a brain is just going to tell you to call a
lawyer. Unless you're just looking for moral support, then you should create a
poll and we'll all vote for Angry not getting anything and possibly
contracting lupus.

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throwaway-story
Fair enough, I guess part of what I'm asking is can the lawyer even do
anything outside of say "pay him 1/3"?

Meaning, do we actually have any kind of argument because he "abandoned" the
business?

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tstegart
Well, that's what they're there to tell you. Usually, the consultation is free
or a small fee. A good lawyer can get the facts from you in an hour, can take
a look at your agreement, and armed with knowledge of the laws of Arkansas,
can tell you some odds or whether you have a good case or not. We here on HN,
unless we are AK lawyers, aren't going to know how good your argument is
because AK might have laws on the books about this sort of stuff we don't know
about.

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throwaway-story
Law sucks. And it's hard to research.

Someone fix it.

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tstegart
It sucks because its very fact specific. Too many variables, if you will.
Anyone can read the law online, but a good lawyer can tell you how its
applied, who courts are sympathetic to, what kind of judges your county has,
what direction the law is moving and how well you might do. Its a mess, but
the U.S. likes it that way, because each state can follow its own direction.

