Set the rules between co-owners before issues arise

The biggest problem is usually not day-to-day cooperation while everyone agrees, but what happens when views change. Without a written agreement, owners can end up arguing about voting thresholds, director appointments, funding expectations, transfer rights, dividend decisions or whether someone can leave and sell to an outsider. Those issues often surface at stressful moments such as growth, underperformance or a founder exit. A clear agreement gives the business a set of rules for those situations instead of leaving major points to assumption, memory or informal messages.

It commonly deals with ownership percentages, voting rights, reserved matters, appointment and removal of directors or managers, funding obligations, distributions, restrictions on transfers, pre-emptive rights, drag or tag style sale provisions, confidentiality, restraint-related clauses where appropriate, dispute procedures and exit events. Some agreements also address what happens on death, incapacity or default by an owner. The final content depends on your structure and whether the agreement is for a company, unit-based arrangement, or a more bespoke ownership setup.

The level of customisation usually turns on who the owners are and how they expect the business to operate. For example, a two-founder startup with equal voting may need deadlock mechanisms, while a business with passive investors may need stronger reserved matters and transfer controls. It also matters whether owners contribute different assets, work in the business, lend money to it, or expect future investment rounds. Those commercial details shape the agreement far more than the document title alone.

Sometimes a template can help you spot common clauses, but it may not deal properly with your ownership dynamics. Templates often assume a standard company structure and may not reflect unequal decision rights, staged vesting, investor protections, family ownership arrangements or agreed exit triggers. They can also leave gaps between the agreement and your constitution or other corporate records. If there is any real possibility of future investment, founder departure, or disagreement over control, a tailored agreement is usually the more sensible option.

We gather the key commercial points, review any existing ownership documents if relevant, and prepare the agreement around the structure you want to put in place. You may already know the broad deal but still need help turning it into workable legal wording on voting, transfers or exits. Timing depends on how settled those points are and whether multiple owners need to confirm instructions. The service covers the agreement drafting and the stated amendment process, but not ongoing representation if negotiations continue after delivery.

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 and Unitholders 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.

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.