Kicking me out of the business

ChrisW1989

Good morning, I don't know if im posting on the right forum but I'm just looking for some advice.
My uncle holds a business which has been going quite a long time, his business partner passed away last year and so he asked me to step in. Ever since, things have turned sour even though he's my uncle, he's assaulted me, said things to me that affects my mental health (i have depression and anxiety)

Last week he told me he's kicking me off the business and getting someone else in,

I just need to know if he can do this. The only documentation I have is from HMRC stating I'm in a partnership with that business. There is no partnership documentation as far as I know, the accountant didn't mention it. We didn't get paid for a few months last year so we could buy a new Van, which was 12k

I will be owed money from May which gets paid by invoices in June but I know he won't pay me anything.

I'm not sure I have a case here, but I just wanted to see if anyone could offer advice.

Apologies if I posted in the wrong place.

Chris

Pennywise

What does the partnership agreement say?

Were you ever put on the business bank account as a joint account holder?

What money did you put in to "buy" into the business?

ChrisW1989

There was never a partnership agreement, even with the previous partner who passed away.
My uncle just said to me, you own half now, and we did split profits as it did say on the HMRC documents.
When you talk about buy into the business, I didn't. It was given to me.
Given I didn't do that, I guess the HMRC partnership documents mean nothing

Pennywise

ChrisW1989 wrote: »

I guess the HMRC partnership documents mean nothing

Not without any other evidence, no. They just show the profit share for that particular year - they don't confirm capital ownership (i.e. on a sale), nor even that the profit share will be the same for future years. All they show is that some form of partnership existed, not the terms of the partnership.

If you didn't "buy in", then even less proof that there was any indication that you were entitled to anything more than a share of the trading profits whilst you were working in it.

Mistral001

You might get your uncle to pay you something for the time you worked for nothing so that he could buy the van since he will now get the benefit from your work as he (presumably) will keep the van.

ChrisW1989

Thank you for the replies.

Like I said, the only documents I hve are HMRC stating I joined the business. I also have a document from the environmental health stating both our names trading as [company name] also the same with the public liability insurance, it states we are trading as [company name]

When you mention did I buy in, could I technically say I did by not taking a wage so that the van could be purchased [the van cost £12k]

I know he's been there longer, but what does he hold that I don't to make him in charge, if that makes sense. I have plenty of people and family who whiteness him saying stuff like [Chris, you own half a business now, your life will change, we'll share the money etc] to be honest, he knew about my mental health issues, and at times made me feel bullied. I dont want to work with him again. I just would like to see if he can take that 50% straight back from me, even things like the yell.com consultant has us as a partnership. I'm now very short of money as he won't pay me anything that comes in this month, plus he won't give me anything for the new Van, he's blocked me on all platforms. He'd sent me all his business bank details, so that I could use it, plus deal with the online banking, he added me as a card holder with Amex (which he's now cancelled)

So with all that playing on my mind, and not doing my mental health any good, just before this happened, he told me to sort the insurance out on the vans, which I did, cost almost £5.8k, but a few days later I got the confirmation from the insurance and there was an error on it, I tried to let my uncle know but he's ignored me. One of the vans tax expired on June 1st, and he won't get letters at the new business address as the older van is registered at the deceased man's house (my uncle didn't re register the van into his own name) so there's a few different things happening, and it's stressing me so much. If he paid me half the van value and half profits from May then I'd just walk away - but I feel I'm entitled to nothing I think the only thing he has is the business bank account in his name, other things are in mine, the website has my email address on, which was made by yell.

I'm sorry for the long winded post. This is keeping me up all night

tacpot12

The best advice in your situation is to let your uncle find another partner and for you to leave this partnership as quickly as possible.

Did you put any money into the partnership when you joined?

Your don't have the money that will be needed to force your uncle to give you anything and he already owe you one months wages, so don't do any more work for him. Get a job somewhere else. Tell HMRC that you are no longer self-employed unless you want to be self-employed outside of the partnership.

If anything is in your name, e.g. The van with the dvla, change it so that it is your uncle's name. If you need to, you can just tell anyone that you are leaving the business - don't tell them about the circumstances of your departure. You can send the the V5 to tell dvla that your uncle is now the registered keeper of the van.

If you are the registered keeper of the van, and it isn't insured due to the error, get it off the road and don't drive it. What's the error and why can't you fix it?

Did you pay the £5.8k personally? If so, use the family to apply pressure to your uncle to reimburse you, give you some part of the value of the van and to pay you your 'wages'.

You could write to your uncle setting out what he owes you and suggesting how he could pay you. e.g. You might suggest he pays you half the value of the van (which will be less than £6k now) in monthly installments between July and December.

billy2shots

Fact1 You were recently given half a business. You received half the profits from that business you didn’t spend a penny to acquire.

Fact2 You sacrificed some pay to buy a van.


Q1. Diid you pay equal amounts towards the vehicle, £6k each?

Q2. Were the profits you received from the business more than what your share of the van cost?


If you received more profits than outgoings on the van, I would shake your uncles hand and thank him for the free partnership no matter how short.

Mistral001

Cut your losses and get out.

I am reminded of story of the man with the friend who was one of the most annoying people he had ever met. The friend asked the man for the loan of £20 and the man agreed to lend him the money. Of course the man never saw the friend or his £20 again. The man was not particularly upset. In fact he said it was probably the best £20 he had ever spent.

Savvy_Sue

I'd suggest writing to him - if you think he'll recognise your handwriting, get the envelope written by someone else and type the letter inside.

Set out clearly what you believe he needs to know, eg the van tax which has expired, send him the insurance details which are wrong.

Anything still in your name, tell him about. If you can change it to his, do so. if there are passwords etc which need to be changed, tell him what they are. If things are still under your control, get them out of your control.

Then walk away. If you receive emails in future, print them and post them to him. If you get letters, send them on to him in without your name and address showing. You should have nothing else to worry about.