Nearly two years ago, my partner and I paid $10,000.00 to trusted friends for a 20% share in their new business, which they later registered as an LLC. We made them sign a receipt for money clarifying our ownership which stated that they would provide us with a "deed of ownership," but that never happened and no other written agreements were ever signed regarding the details of the partnership.
Less than a year later, they called a meeting with us and said that things weren't going well with their new business, and that they were going to eventually dissolve it in another year or two, but in the meantime were going to move it under the umbrella of their parent company (a corporation). They said they felt bad and were concerned for our original investment and were going to repay it over time (no time frame stated). At this point we all verbally agreed that we were no longer owners in their company and they would pay us back our money.
Since then, we have had several disagreements and they keep threatening to NOT repay our money at all stating that they don't HAVE to repay anything, that it was just a business investment that went bad and their company is in the red. They said they were doing us a favor by "offering" to repay our investment but that they didn't have to pay us a penny.
Can they simply take away our ownership, say it's over and NOT repay any of our initial investment while still operating their company? Do we have ANY recourse here? Please help.
Less than a year later, they called a meeting with us and said that things weren't going well with their new business, and that they were going to eventually dissolve it in another year or two, but in the meantime were going to move it under the umbrella of their parent company (a corporation). They said they felt bad and were concerned for our original investment and were going to repay it over time (no time frame stated). At this point we all verbally agreed that we were no longer owners in their company and they would pay us back our money.
Since then, we have had several disagreements and they keep threatening to NOT repay our money at all stating that they don't HAVE to repay anything, that it was just a business investment that went bad and their company is in the red. They said they were doing us a favor by "offering" to repay our investment but that they didn't have to pay us a penny.
Can they simply take away our ownership, say it's over and NOT repay any of our initial investment while still operating their company? Do we have ANY recourse here? Please help.
