What are 5 things that should be included in a partnership agreement?

Five things belong in every partnership agreement: each partner's contributions, the profit and loss split, decision-making authority, exit and buyout terms, and a dispute-resolution process.

Contributions means money, equipment, and time, stated with numbers. The profit split should say whether it follows ownership or something else. Decision rights need a tie-breaker if ownership is 50/50. Exit terms cover a partner leaving, dying, or being pushed out, with a valuation formula for the buyout. Dispute resolution names the path, usually mediation first, so a disagreement has somewhere to go besides court.

Most partnership blowups trace back to one of these five being assumed instead of written. The agreement is cheap insurance against the expensive version of finding out.

This partnership agreement template collects all five in plain fields.