Put clear rules in place between individual shareholders

This is usually worth doing when shares are held by real people with different roles, expectations or levels of control, such as founders, family members, early investors or active operators in the business. A handshake understanding can work while things are simple, but problems often appear when someone wants to sell, stop working in the business, or block a decision. A written agreement can set out voting thresholds, transfer rules, pre-emptive rights and exit mechanics before those issues become urgent.

It commonly covers how major decisions are approved, what happens if new shares are issued, when shares can be sold or transferred, and how deadlocks are handled. It may also address director appointments, dividend approaches, confidentiality, restraint-style protections where appropriate, and what happens if a shareholder leaves, dies or breaches the agreement. The exact content depends on your ownership setup, but the aim is to record the rules between the individual shareholders rather than relying only on informal understandings or basic company records.

The level of tailoring often depends on the number of shareholders, whether they are all active in the business, whether any hold different rights, and whether there are founder-specific protections or investor expectations to reflect. Existing company records also matter, including your constitution and any earlier shareholder arrangements. If there are planned capital raises, vesting arrangements or agreed exit pathways, those points should usually be built into the drafting. Completion steps can depend on the company records and any existing shareholder arrangements.

A template may be a starting point for understanding the issues, but it often stays too generic for the actual ownership relationship. It may not line up with your constitution, your share classes, or the commercial deal between the individuals involved. That can create confusion later, especially around transfer restrictions, minority protections or deadlock clauses. A tailored document is generally more useful where the shareholders have different roles, funding contributions or expectations about control. Tax and accounting consequences may need separate advice alongside the legal drafting.

Timing depends on how settled the commercial terms are and whether there are existing documents to review. In many matters, the main variables are how quickly instructions are provided, whether the shareholders agree on key points, and whether the company records are complete and consistent. If there is already a constitution or earlier agreement in place, we may need to check how the new document fits with those records. The If extra support is needed, we will explain it upfront and quote it separately before you proceed.

Submit an enquiry on this page or click 'Get started'. One of our legal consultants will review it within 1 business day and get in touch to understand what you need.

Your consultant will then email you a fixed-fee quote setting out the cost, scope and timing. If you're happy with it, you can accept the quote and sign our engagement letter online.

Once you've accepted, one of our Australian-qualified lawyers will work with you to complete your project. They'll contact you by email or phone if they need anything.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Shareholders Agreement Individual 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.

We work online, so we can help wherever you are in New Zealand. Our team works remotely, mainly from Australia.

Your work is done by our Australian-qualified lawyers, who hold Australian practising certificates and specialise in business law. None of them are New Zealand lawyers or hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

Sprintlaw NZ Limited is a legal consultancy, not a law firm, and is not regulated by the New Zealand Law Society. We don't act in court or tribunal matters, conveyancing (including leases and business sales) or other reserved areas of work. Communications with Sprintlaw are unlikely to be protected by legal professional privilege. We still keep everything confidential under our engagement letter.