When business owners can’t get along and need to go their separate ways it’s very similar to divorcing a spouse with all the attendant things that go on; anger, feelings of betrayal, pettiness, bickering over the china, it’s all very unpleasant.
What you should typically look at, and the biggest mistake that I see business owners make is that when they form their corporation they typically don’t follow through and properly draft the organizing documents; the articles of incorporation and bylaws for a corporation, the company agreement for an LLC or the partnership agreement for a partnership. It’s in those agreements that you can in effect, put a prenuptial agreement that tells each owner of the business what happens down the road when things don’t work out.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to separate from your business partner or your fellow business owner, whether you have an agreement that spells this out or whether you don’t, you need to involve an attorney quickly so that you can begin to formulate a strategy on how to separate yourself from that other party and achieve your goals down the road.