While being a solo dental practitioner lets you have full control over your practice, it comes with various challenges.When running a dental practice on your own – you have to bear all the expenses alone, as well as manage everything from scratch.
This is the main reason why dentists often choose to team up and form dental partnerships.
However, for these partnerships to work, partners must start off right and be on the same page.
Similar to marriages, the relationship between dental partners can suffer if they don’t communicate expectations clearly, have different views on roles, or disagree on managing the practice.
So, to avoid any conflict in the future, it is advisable to prepare a dental partnership agreement. Expert dentist lawyers at DentalAttorneys.com can help you with this.
To know more about dental partnerships and how a dentist attorney can help, keep reading.
What is a Dental Partnership?
Dentist partnerships, also known as dental partnerships, happen when two or more dentists jointly own or manage a dental practice.
It’s a collaborative arrangement where dentists share responsibilities, expenses, and profits.
Unlike a professional corporation, a dental partnership can happen informally through the simple act of sharing these aspects.
One significant drawback of getting into a partnership is that general partnerships come with unlimited liability for each partner.
If your partner faces a debt or legal judgment for malpractice or contract issues with a vendor, you might be responsible for repaying that debt or judgment.
It’s crucial to create dental partnership agreements in a clear way to address and overcome this major concern.
What is a Dental Partnership Agreement?
A dental partnership agreement is a legal document containing all the important information about the partnership. It outlines the terms and conditions of collaboration between dentists in a shared practice.
This document actually covers key aspects like roles, responsibilities, profit-sharing, and potential liabilities. It helps prevent misunderstandings by clearly defining expectations for smooth practice management.
Here are a few reasons why it is important to prepare a dental partnership agreement:
Outlines the partnership’s objectives
Defines how profits and losses will be shared
Establishes procedures for admitting new partners
Highlights the process for partner exits
Specifies how management decisions will be made
Outlines procedures for resolving disputes
Helps prevent misunderstandings and conflicts between partners
Facilitates a smooth and efficient operation of the dental practice
Key Considerations When Preparing Dental Partnership Agreements
A dental partnership agreement should take into account a number of important factors:
1. Management rights
Define decision-making authority to prevent equal management privileges. Name the decision-makers (committee, managing partner, etc.) and permit transfer of power. To avoid deadlocks, set voting thresholds for partners on important issues.
2. Admission of new partners
Clearly define the process for accepting new partners. Give potential partners minimum capital contributions in clear terms. Make it clear if current partners must vote in order to admit new partners. Provide information about the new partners’ malpractice history and license status.
3. Exit issues
Discuss the circumstances and reasons why a spouse might dissociate. Find out if partners are able to separate before a predetermined time. Indicate liquidated damages in the event that a dissociation occurs in contravention of the contract.
List the components of a buy-out formula that take productivity into account to fairly value the interests of departing partners.
4. Non-competition and non-solicitation
Address concerns about partners pursuing other ventures by including restrictions on joining or starting competitor practices.
Clearly define limitations on poaching within the partnership. Be cautious when drafting clauses to ensure enforceability in different jurisdictions.
How Can Dental Partnership Lawyers Can Help?
Dentist attorneys play an important role in helping you establish partnerships while protecting your rights. Here’s how they can help:
1. Creating a dental partnership agreement
As we have discussed at the beginning, it is important to create an agreement when entering into a partnership. Failure to do so can cause disputes and huge losses in the future.
However, without any legal knowledge, you cannot prepare an agreement. In such cases, a dental partnership lawyer can help you create thorough partnership agreements. It aids in addressing legal issues and safeguarding the interests of all involved parties.
2. Negotiating terms
In order to create a partnership agreement, all the partners need to agree on common terms. However, it is often difficult for partners to have the same level of understanding.
If you and your partner are not able to agree at the same time, it is best to hire a dentist lawyer. They can help conduct negotiations among partners, ensuring representation of everyone’s interests and clarity in agreement terms.
3. Reviewing existing agreements
When your dental partnership agreement needs to be reviewed from time to time, if there are many major changes in the business, a dentist attorney can help you check the current partnership agreements.
They can review it for legal validity, completeness, and potential improvements. This way, they can help address any concerns with the agreement and make sure it is up to date.
4. Offering dispute resolution assistance
Conflicts are very common among partners and can often affect the business. If it is not resolved on time, there can be huge losses.
In case of disputes, dentist attorneys work as a mediator. They offer assistance to reach fair resolutions that consider the interests of all partners.
5. Providing regulatory compliance guidance
To run a successful dental partnership, you and your partner must meet all the regulatory compliances. A dental partnership lawyer can help you with this.
They offer advice on regulatory compliance to make sure that the partnership agreement aligns with relevant laws and regulations in the dental field.
Conclusion
These are some ways in which a dentist attorney can help you with dental partnerships. While working together with other fellow dentists can help you save money and manage the practice more easily, remember the risks. If your partner fails to pay for their losses, you have to bear it.
This is why it is advisable to prepare a dental partnership agreement. An expert dentist lawyer can not only help you in drafting the paperwork but also make sure that the practice runs smoothly. So, if you are planning to enter into a partnership, get a consultation from a dentist lawyer first.
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