{"id":55458,"date":"2018-11-07t12:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-07t17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=55458"},"modified":"2018-11-08t09:29:47","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08t14:29:47","slug":"a-roundup-of-8-partner-provisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2018\/11\/07\/a-roundup-of-8-partner-provisions\/","title":{"rendered":"8 key items for partner agreements"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>forethought now can save headaches later. by marc rosenberg<\/i> a partner agreement can cover a lot of ground.<\/p>\n more:<\/b> 12 basics of partner agreements<\/a> | 10 merger hiccups for partners<\/a> | mandatory retirement: pros and cons (and is it legal?)<\/a> | deciding how to allocate partner income<\/a> | making partner: today\u2019s 15 essential skills and traits<\/a> | how to specify managing partner duties<\/a> | ownership percentage and capital accounts<\/a> | 5 key reasons to have a partner agreement<\/a> in this post, we’ll cover eight miscellaneous provisions you might include:<\/p>\n it depends what the firm\u2019s partnership agreement says.<\/p>\n some firms require their partners to take periodic physical exams, with the results given to the managing partner. partners are valuable assets of the firm, so it\u2019s in the firm\u2019s best interest for them to maintain good health.<\/p>\n hundreds of firms are sold or merged into larger firms every year. this section of the partner agreement addresses these cases. there is no mystery in how sales proceeds are distributed in the case of a sole practitioner sale. so this section deals only with sales and mergers of multipartner firms.<\/p>\n sales.<\/strong> a firm is sold for cash, paid over a certain number of years, generally commencing in the first year after a sale and continuing for a fixed period of time, often five or fewer years. the seller\u2019s owners are almost always retirement-minded and very close to or at a traditional retirement age.<\/p>\n the proceeds should be distributed to the owners based on their relative vested retirement benefits, both accrual basis capital and retirement benefits. firms should avoid using ownership percentage to distribute the sales proceeds because it is almost always unfair.<\/p>\n mergers.<\/strong> although solidifying the partners\u2019 exit strategy is often a sought-after benefit of smaller firms, another major goal is improving the firm\u2019s growth and profitability by combining with a larger and better managed firm. in true mergers, the seller\u2019s owners are usually quite a bit younger than traditional retirement age and plan to continue working for quite a few years after the merger.<\/p>\n instead of receiving cash within a fixed period of time, all or most of the seller\u2019s partners become partners in the buyer. they are paid for the value of their firm when they retire by participating in the buyer\u2019s partner retirement\/buyout plan.<\/p>\n this section applies to sales in which (a) the sales price to the seller is higher than the terms of the seller\u2019s internal retirement\/buyout plan and (b) the firm has retired partners with unpaid retirement benefits at the time of the sale.<\/p>\n example: a firm\u2019s buyout plan calls for valuation of the firm\u2019s goodwill at 80 percent of revenue. the firm sells for 100 percent times revenue.<\/p>\n some firms feel that in this scenario, the retired partners should be entitled to receive higher buyout payments. this is referred to as a \u201cclawback.\u201d<\/p>\n a common clawback provision in partner agreements is:<\/p>\n if the sale or merger is within five years of a partner’s retiring, the retiring partner’s buyout arrangement should be retroactively changed to be consistent with what the current partners will receive. the impact should be graduated as follows:<\/p>\n safeguarding the assets of the firm is an important duty of the managing partner. some of the firm\u2019s most valuable assets are intangible: the client base, staff and true goodwill. unlike the hard assets \u2013 cash, wip, receivables and fixed assets \u2013 intangible assets are more susceptible to loss by immoral, unethical or fraudulent acts of the partners.<\/p>\n one tactic some firms use to protect against partners jeopardizing the firm\u2019s assets is to require partners to maintain a healthy personal financial status. the logic is that if partners’ personal finances are unstable and vulnerable, they may be tempted to make decisions related to their clients and in other areas that benefit them personally but put the firm at great risk.<\/p>\n one way to protect against partners committing improper acts is to require them to submit their 1040s and perhaps other personal financial information to the mp each year.<\/p>\n this section on social media is excerpted from a blog post by attorney peter fontaine.<\/em><\/p>\n
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when partners withdraw or retire, does this end their liability to the firm?<\/h3>\n
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physical exams<\/h3>\n
if the firm is sold, how are the proceeds distributed?<\/h3>\n
clawback<\/h3>\n
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should partners submit their 1040s to the managing partner?<\/h3>\n
social media<\/h3>\n