12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

I am in need of desparate help and advice

by mike_lucas
10 replies
My partner and best friend for the past 15 years past away last night with a massive heart attack. He lived on the west cost I live in Ill . our merchant account was set up in his name for reasons .We have several clients that are on recurring payment but chance are most likely I will NOT have access to the funds .account etc as my name is not on it ( was going thru a nasty divorce and did not want company to be part of the proceedings



Anyway I don't know if anyone has any past experience with anything similar to this partnership break up ,death etc but Any help suggestions I will be grateful on possible paths to take.

We were a LLC under etraffic corporation (name) Does anyone know if it would be it best to contact all the client and change the name? or even how to approach this sadly I wasx the tech guy he was the banker side .We made a good team ..right now I am at a loss in more ways that I can think.
I do not have the ability to get a merchant account in my name ( due again to nasty divorce) we have used 99% CC billing in the past few years but does anyone have any alterative check solutions that are simply to set up but does not require a credit check (due to reasons stated)

any help I would be grateful
#advice
  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Sounds like something you should be contacting an attorney about. Hopefully you had a partnership agreement in place to handle this situation.

    A partnership agreement would arrange for things like dividing the funds in the business account and buyout of any share in the business that may have been left to your partner's beneficiaries.

    If you have no ownership of the funds at all, then you'll have to rely on the kindness of your friend's beneficiaries to give you your share of the money. You'll also have to prove that you're entitled to a share of the funds and that you weren't just an employee. Again, a partnership agreement would have taken care of this.

    Hopefully you know the business owners that you can contact them immediately and arrange other payment options. My advice would be to get a merchant account / paypal account asap to make new payment arrangements. If these business owners don't know you from Adam... then I'm afraid you're probably screwed.
    Signature
    G+ LOCAL SETUP ___and____ Custom WordPress - Genesis Child Themes (see portfolio here)

    SCHEMA.ORG + GEOTAGGING + KML + PUBLISHERSHIP + so much more...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7548601].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mike_lucas
      The clients know me as I usually was the ones dealing with them. Dan family I not worried about as well. Sadly he took care of the funds and Inever really needed access to the account so for a while those funds are at best tied up.
      since our LLC was under his name per say

      As far as an agreement, no we are as close as family maybe closer

      maybe doing checks does anyone have any check software that may work I read in the past a few post about this but for the life of me right now I cannot find them.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7548634].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Sounds like things will work out then. And I'm really sorry for your loss, bud.
    Signature
    G+ LOCAL SETUP ___and____ Custom WordPress - Genesis Child Themes (see portfolio here)

    SCHEMA.ORG + GEOTAGGING + KML + PUBLISHERSHIP + so much more...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7548718].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    I am not sure where you are located, but I am in Canada and I often get my local clients to pay by 'Interact Etransfers' - it's really easy through online banking. I think it's available in Canada and the US (possibly other places as well).

    Interac e-Transfer - Email Money Transfer, Send Money Online
    Signature
    "You shouldn't come here and set yourself up as the resident wizard of oz."
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7548974].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
      Hold your horses. Seriously. Don't start contacting any customers at all or you could be in big trouble.

      If the entire entity of the company was in someone else's name then that makes you no more than an employee whatever you may think.

      If there was no DIS (Death In Service Clause) stipulating that everything transfers to you because you are the 50/50 partner in reality if not on paper, then the entire thing is considered his estate and will be dealt with by the Administrators of that Estate. Usually a Solicitor (lawyer)

      Maybe he left it to someone. It is then up to them what they do with it. Maybe they give it to you or maybe they don't or maybe you continue as usual with a financial arrangement.

      It is the legal Administrators who will sort it out as clearly you had no legal continuity clauses in place.

      Get all of your paperwork in order and speak to the company Accountant (if you hopefully had one) and the lawyer who will deal with it.

      You need to know who gets what before you can contact customers and tell them to start paying you as another company. A company is a separate entity from a person in law so it would be deemed theft for you to take those customers if there is another legal owner.

      Hopefully you can see why. You could be sued by the real legal owner if the will leaves it to someone else. And rightly so.

      When writing his will he would have been advised on what to do by his lawyer so hopefully they will contact you to say it is being transferred to you and they will give you the legal documents to approach any creditor/ debtor/ partners etc etc

      I hope it works out for you but keep a clear head and get proper legal advice on what your actual position is.

      Dan
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7549141].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Great suggestion. Payments from US to Canada are not possible. But perhaps email transfers within the USA is possible. It's extremely fast and cheap here. Only $1.50 service charge, no holds; all funds clear immediately upon deposit.
    Signature
    G+ LOCAL SETUP ___and____ Custom WordPress - Genesis Child Themes (see portfolio here)

    SCHEMA.ORG + GEOTAGGING + KML + PUBLISHERSHIP + so much more...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7549031].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mike_lucas
      thank you for all suggestions
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7549115].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author pinacolada
    So sorry for your loss :[
    Such a tragedy especially since it was the beginning of a new year
    You can sign up for Stripe (stripe.com) you can process credit cards with no credit check.
    Best of luck!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7549241].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    Very sorry for your loss, but I would contact an attorney and an accountant to advise me.
    Signature

    Looking for answers on how to SUCCESSFULLY market your company?
    Cold Calling, Appointment Setting, Training, Consulting - we do it all!
    PM for more information

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7549314].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mike_lucas
      Again I want to thank everyone for the help and suggestions. Its been on many fronts very draining besides the business issues. the past few days .

      I want to give a huge Thank you to Iamnameless he sent me a pm and gave me the name of the software and info that I really need to move forward business side of the house. I am very grateful for that help is lifts a huge burden off of me.

      Again thanks to all of the warrior for the help and suggestions.

      I have not give a lot of advice back to the community here but if there is one thing
      that is you are working with a partner and I have for a while and I had a great experience, I would never ever trade that for anything. the last 5 years has been some of the best in my life business side .that being said life is seems can be short and well you need to make sure even when it seems so unlikely that something can happen, plan for it .... don't wait, "till tomorrow" as you may one morning with a phone call that it's to late ....

      This goes for family matters and business
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7555950].message }}

Trending Topics