My friend and I are opening up a business.  He will take a certain
percentage of profits and I will take a certain percentage.  We need
to draw up a
contract outlining these terms, but we would like to skip the
expensive fees that a lawyer
would charge to do this.  Can we do this in a less expensive way?  If
so, how?

Hello--

I run a business myself and can answer your question.

I found a document that you can use as a template. You're looking for
a document that can outline how many shares or what percentage of the
company's money will go to whom.

Since you're starting your business, you'll first need to incorporate.
The best way to do this is to find an accountant who can help you
incorporate. Most accountants can do this at a lower cost than an
attorney. I'm not telling you not to get an attorney. But I know how
difficult it can be to keep accurate track of finances, so an
accountant can significantly help.

I found a good document you can use to outline your agreement
yourself. I would have your accountant look it over, if you have one,
before signing.

The link to this template is http://www.lectlaw.com/forms/f152.htm

I found this form by searching the following search terms:

legal business forms partnership
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=legal+business+forms+partnership

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need any clarification.

Thanks and good luck with your business,

darrel-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by aaman003-ga on 07 Dec 2002 14:13 PST

Darrel, thanks for the answer.  Allow me to specify my question a
little bit.  We are forming our company as an LLC, not a corporation,
so there are no shareholders.  We are dividing the company 49%/51%
between him and I.  The form you referred me to seemed more applicable
to corporations.  If there is another template you could refer me to,
that would be great.  Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by darrel-ga on 07 Dec 2002 14:30 PST

Aaman003--

Ah-ha! Thanks for your clarification request.

Could you please tell me where you're forming this LLC?

Thanks,

darrel-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by aaman003-ga on 07 Dec 2002 14:44 PST

Hey Darrel,

Probably Georgia.  Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by darrel-ga on 07 Dec 2002 14:53 PST

Aaman003--

Yes, I found the form you'll need. Go to this site
http://secure.uslegalforms.com/cgi-bin/forms/query.pl?S-C-GA-B-limited~liability~|fguru

The site sells forms like the one you're looking for. But you can view
it for free. Click on the link for "information and preview." That
will allow you to view the form in a .pdf file.

It sounds like you may be tossing around the idea of creating this
business in a state other than Georgia. You may purchase legal LLC
forms online for any state. The link is
http://www.uslegalforms.com/formsguru/llcformation.htm

I searched the following terms to find this information. You may want
to search around a bit, if you're looking for a better deal.

legal business forms LLC
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=legal+business+forms+LLC

Let me know if you need any further clarification,

darrel-ga

Thorough and efficient