Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Nebraska

real estate partnership, remodel/flip

I recently sold a property I bought to ''flip''. I had a partner and no contract other than an assumption that we would split the profits upon sale. My wife and I did 75-80% of the work (and have our accounting of that) and have recipts for out of pocket expenses totaling $45,000, partners expense $11,000. Our dispute is over the $35,000 in profits. Partner say's it's a 50-50 deal (but offered 5% over since we did the work) because the property is deeded that way. I say we are entitled to more since we did more work. Who is right?


Asked on 12/21/07, 12:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Duke Drouillard Drouillard Law, LLC

Re: real estate partnership, remodel/flip

You are both partially right and both partially wrong. The 'A' answer is to come to an agreement you can both live with because, if it goes to court, attorney fees will eat a big hole in the $35K you earned on the home. Neither of you did all that work to feed attorneys. Next time, have an agreement in writing which details how work and profits will be split. You formed a common law partnership for this venture and are now seeking to dissolve that partnership. You can use Google to get more information about 'dissolving a common law partnership' which will help you to understand some of the difficulties presented and form a basis for negotiations between you and your partner. Try not to let personalities and emotions get in the way of resolving the issues. If it is difficult for the two of you to talk, perhaps you could both agree to use a mediation service to help you reach an agreement. Many attorneys are beginning to offer this service which is far cheaper than going to court and avoids the danger of losing in court.

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Answered on 12/21/07, 12:39 pm


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