Involved in a Business up north want to get out

Bombe

Hi Guys,

I have been involved with a business up north ( Ltd company/registered in the north) in which I am a director for the last two years...In the last couple of months the relation with the partners up north has turned very sour and we barely talk now. I have started a new venture down south where I am from and living. (Which has nothing in common with the business up north)

How easy is it for me to pull out/resign my directorship of the company up north? Can they stop me from pulling out and what am I liable for?

Oh and when people tell you not to mix business with friends/family please listen to them they know what they are talking about.

Any advice would be most welcome.

The Guvnor

Hi Bombe,

Try and talk to a solicitor or accountant up North, they could advise you very definitively and IME they are very reasonable in terms of cost.

Best of luck mate. Having said all of this is it not possible to try and split in an amicable manner? I would without knowing how bad the situation is try and talk to them and part with the minimum of cost to both parties.

Best of luck.

Bombe

Hi Guvnor,

Thanks for the advice I will look into the legal aspect of this,,,,, I would like to go for the peacful break up but I do not think this will work out.....

Thanks again.....

antoinolachtnai

Do you need them to buy out your shares? Do you need to get a certain amount of money back to recoup your costs?

Are there personal guarantees by you?

If the answer to all of these is 'no' it probably isn't that difficult to walk away. If any of these is yes, well, it's tougher ...

They probably just want you to walk away.

Bombe

Hi Antoinolachtnai,

It would be no to three...

but the company has a large outstanding loan and the asset that was put against it was my partners land, so if the company goes belly up I am sure he will want me to compansate him??????....:cool:

antoinolachtnai

I don't think he'd have any rights to that. Why would you compensate him? He guaranteed the loan, not you. He might have got some benefit from this in terms of a bigger shareholding.

If you hand over the shares to him, what moral cause will he have to feel aggrieved against you? If the venture succeeds, he will own a much bigger share in it.

I would talk to an accountant about this though. There may be some angle I'm not seeing, and there might be a way to do this that would have tax benefits for you.

As a broad general comment, it might help to have some sort of intermediary who could help deal with the issues. I say this more relating to the friends issue than anything else. To have a business venture go wrong is a pity, to ruin a friendship over it is a disaster.

Bombe

Thanks for the comments..I see things a little clearer now...I will talk to an accountant to see what way is best to approcah this problem.....:)