Please help.
My girlfriend, who I lived with, and I started a real estate/rental business 6 years ago. In Feb of 2005 we had personal problems and I moved out. She later came to me and I signed an agreement to trade the titles and equity of several properties for the one property in which I was living and an agreement to dissolve the general partnership, or I could buy her out of the remaining properties within 4 months.
(The house I live in is not in the business but the remaining ones she has are business properties.)
In June of 2005 she came to me and said we would keep the business together. She did nothing to dissolve the business and we continued our working relationship as business partners (signing leases, maintenance, evictions etc.) based on that oral agreement.
We never put in writing how to split things if the business ended but always agreed as to 50/50 of the profits.
In the fall 2005 we went to a business lawyer to try and get things in writing concerning exiting the business. Nothing was accomplished, since she kept bringing up personal expenses. This verbal agreement has been in place and continued until this past week when she came to me and told me I owed her Money for past living expenses (even though it was not a common law marriage). We disagreed on the amount that was to be paid to her. In the last day she closed the business checking acct, transferred the remaining balance into an unknown account, and cancelled bus credit cards without my knowledge.(both our names were on these accts) Now she tells me we will never agree and to talk to my lawyer as she handed me his card. When we traded properties we agreed on approx prices based on market values, but it has been a year since that agreement and nothing was acted upon. I'd like to get my fair share of the increased profits.
What can/should I do. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
My girlfriend, who I lived with, and I started a real estate/rental business 6 years ago. In Feb of 2005 we had personal problems and I moved out. She later came to me and I signed an agreement to trade the titles and equity of several properties for the one property in which I was living and an agreement to dissolve the general partnership, or I could buy her out of the remaining properties within 4 months.
(The house I live in is not in the business but the remaining ones she has are business properties.)
In June of 2005 she came to me and said we would keep the business together. She did nothing to dissolve the business and we continued our working relationship as business partners (signing leases, maintenance, evictions etc.) based on that oral agreement.
We never put in writing how to split things if the business ended but always agreed as to 50/50 of the profits.
In the fall 2005 we went to a business lawyer to try and get things in writing concerning exiting the business. Nothing was accomplished, since she kept bringing up personal expenses. This verbal agreement has been in place and continued until this past week when she came to me and told me I owed her Money for past living expenses (even though it was not a common law marriage). We disagreed on the amount that was to be paid to her. In the last day she closed the business checking acct, transferred the remaining balance into an unknown account, and cancelled bus credit cards without my knowledge.(both our names were on these accts) Now she tells me we will never agree and to talk to my lawyer as she handed me his card. When we traded properties we agreed on approx prices based on market values, but it has been a year since that agreement and nothing was acted upon. I'd like to get my fair share of the increased profits.
What can/should I do. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
