Document the support period after a business sale

A sale agreement usually records what is being bought and sold, but it often does not deal with the day to day support needed after completion. If the seller will keep providing IT, payroll, finance, customer support, stock systems or other operational help, a transition services agreement sets the practical rules. It can define the services, service levels, access rights, fees, responsibility for errors, and the end date for support. That matters because the factual context after settlement can be just as important as the contract wording when control of the business has already changed hands.

A transition services agreement commonly covers the service schedule, start and end dates, charges or reimbursement, key contacts, access to systems and records, confidentiality, intellectual property use, liability allocation, and the process for moving services across to the buyer. It may also deal with service standards, reporting, business continuity, and what happens if a service is interrupted. In some transactions, the document needs to line up closely with the sale agreement, completion steps and any separation plan. The right approach depends on the documents involved and the factual context of the handover.

The drafting depends on what support will continue, how long it will last, and how critical those services are to keeping the business running. Important details include whether the seller is providing IT, finance, customer service, warehousing or administrative support, whether named staff are involved, what systems the buyer needs access to, and whether the services are included in the price or charged separately. We also look at dependencies between the transition services agreement and the wider deal documents, because those links can affect risk allocation, completion mechanics and exit planning.

A template can help you spot headings, but it often misses the commercial detail that matters in a business handover. Generic wording may not properly address service levels, system access, data security, reliance on particular personnel, charging methods, or how the services end without disrupting operations. Those issues can become expensive if the buyer is relying on the seller to keep core functions running after settlement. A tailored agreement Your lawyer will explain the practical position and your options in plain English. because much depends on the working arrangement and factual context.

Timing depends on whether you need a fresh draft or a review of a document already circulated, and on how settled the commercial terms are between buyer and seller. A practical next step is to provide the sale agreement or heads of terms, any draft transition services agreement, and a clear list of the services that will continue after completion. We can then identify the main legal and operational issues, including any inconsistencies across the transaction documents. If the handover involves multiple service streams or detailed schedules, that usually affects turnaround and revision time.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Transition Services Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

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Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.