SignAndGoSending a partnership agreement for signature.
Partnerships are common in New Zealand farming, professional practices and family businesses. A partnership agreement sets out who puts in what, how profits are shared and what happens when someone leaves. Every partner signs, and every partner should end up holding exactly the same signed document.
Before the signing round
Partnership agreements are usually negotiated between the partners and their adviser over weeks. Once the wording is settled, send the final version through SignAndGo rather than circulating paper copies, which is how partners end up with slightly different versions. A plain-language contract summary of the key terms is a helpful thing to share with a partner who was not part of every discussion.
Each partner signs in their own name
Add each partner as a separate signer. Where a partner is a company or a family trust, the people signing for it, such as each trustee, should each be a signer too. Partners can sign at once; the agreement finishes when the last one does.
- Signature, full name and date for each partner.
- Initials on the schedule of capital contributions.
- Initials on the profit-sharing schedule.
- Text fields for each partner's IRD number and contact address.
Partners in different places
A dairy partnership might have one partner on the farm, another in town and a third working overseas. No account is needed, and the link opens on a phone, so nobody has to find a printer or post anything back. Reminders go out to anyone who has not yet signed, which saves one partner chasing the others.
Changes to the partnership later
When a partner joins or retires, there is usually a deed of admission, a variation or a retirement agreement to sign. Send it the same way. If you use the same adviser each time, ask them to keep the wording consistent and save it as a template with roles for Continuing Partner, Incoming Partner and Retiring Partner.
Before signing a variation, version compare will show what has changed from the agreement in place.
The same copy for everyone
When the last partner signs, every partner gets the identical completed document and a completion certificate. The verification ID on it lets any partner check later that their copy is the one SignAndGo completed. Copy in the partnership's accountant so the agreement is on hand when the annual accounts are prepared.
Common questions
- Can a partner sign from overseas?
- Yes. The signing link works in any browser, anywhere, with nothing to install.
- How do we know every partner has the same version?
- Everyone receives the same completed document, and its verification ID can be checked online.
- Can our accountant get a copy?
- Yes. Copy them in and they receive the finished agreement.