Business Agreements

For contracts to be made in Canada, five conditions should be met. There should be mutual consent among all the parties involved. A contractual capacity should also be present, which is the mental ability to enforce the contract provisions. The contract should also be purposeful and must concern a specific and agreed-upon good or service. There should also be “lawful cause” or “valuable consideration.” Lastly, which is not usually required in all cases, there should be compliance in certain circumstances to formalities provided by law, such as a valid written instrument.

The purpose of a shareholder agreement is to regulate the relationship between shareholders with predictability. Without a shareholder agreement, shareholder conflicts will be much more difficult and resource-demanding to resolve.

A partnership is a unique business vehicle with very particular tax and liability concerns. You should be familiar with whomever will be a partner before starting a business partnership.