MEDIATION OF FAMILY BUSINESS AND PARTNERSHIP DISPUTES

A dispute in a family business is a family dispute. Family businesses are complicated and conflict within one has ramifications outside the workplace. Failure to resolve conflicts in a family business can destroy a good business and/or a good family. No one wants to kill a goose laying golden eggs for those folks we not only work with, but love.

Partnerships are like family. Some partners when splitting up say they feel like they have been through a divorce. They have!

Mediation, the process that helps people in dispute resolve their conflict with the help of a trained impartial third party mediator, helps the parties negotiate a settlement of the conflict instead of  litigating the conflict or destroying the business.

Mediation is quicker, cheaper, and, most importantly, it allows the partners or family members to be in control of the outcome.

If the conflict has an emotional component, and what family business or partnership conflict doesn’t, the parties can be in stress and limbo for a long time. When adult siblings or cousins fight, the whole family is deeply hurt.

If the conflict could lead to a legal process,  you best try mediation before you commence the lawsuit. In Tennessee,  you may find your judge ordering you to try it. If mediation doesn’t work, the judge cannot know why it didn't, nor what had been negotiated. Mediation is confidential. You have nothing to lose and a lot to save. You retain all of your legal rights.

Perhaps the most prized attribute of mediation is the absolute confidentiality aspect. Litigation is a public forum --  open to your creditors and competitors. A family business needs to keep its business to itself. Besides business, it is personal, and doesn’t need exposure in the very public legal arena.

What kinds of family business or partnership disputes are good for mediation? Succession issues, allocation of responsibilities, someone not pulling his or her own weight, someone not able to perform, contribution to capital, when someone leaves, stock issuances, and dividend distribution. How extended is this family?  What happens to a business when a principal gets divorced?

 Dissolution of the partnership requires addressing many issues: contributions to capital, name changes, asset distribution.

None of this is easy.

Any time a continued relationship is desired or required after the resolution of the conflict,  mediation,  being a cooperative process, heightens the chance of a cooperative continuing relationship.

Yes, I am a trained mediator, but I have been associated with a family business for  42 years!  Been there -- done that!

 Thank you for your attention.