Partnership, Joint Venture & Development Disputes
When a property partnership or development joint venture breaks down, we act to dissolve it, take the accounts, and get the right money to the right parties.
- Dissolving property partnerships and winding up development joint ventures.
- Taking accounts — contributions, profits and proceeds held on trust.
- Disputes over who is a partner, and on what terms.
- Fallouts on completed developments — releasing the sale proceeds.
- Fiduciary breaches — diverted opportunities and secret profits.
- Fixed-fee scoping and a clear, commercial path to resolution.
Property Ventures That Fall Apart — and the Money Caught in the Middle
Property is often bought, developed and sold through a partnership or joint venture — two or more people, or their companies and trusts, pooling money, land and effort to build something and share the profit. It works right up until the money lands or the relationship sours.
When it breaks down — a partner stops contributing, one side claims a bigger share, someone dies mid-project, or the venture simply ends and no one can agree on the split — the law of partnership and the Court’s equitable jurisdiction govern how it is unwound. Under the Partnership Act 1892 (NSW) and in equity, a partner or co-venturer can seek a declaration that a partnership exists, an order dissolving it, the appointment of a receiver, and a full account so the assets and profits go to the right parties in the right shares.
These disputes often turn on arrangements that were never quite finalised — a handshake, a term sheet, a chain of emails — and on money sitting in a solicitor’s or agent’s trust account while the parties argue over it. An early, commercial read on who is entitled to what, and moving quickly to secure the funds and the accounts, is usually what decides the outcome.
The Disputes We Resolve
Existence & Terms of the Partnership
Whether a partnership or joint venture exists at all, who the partners are, and on what terms — often where nothing was ever formally signed.
Dissolution & Winding Up
Ending a partnership or joint venture and winding up its affairs — by agreement or Court order — so the venture can be properly closed off.
Taking of Accounts
A full account of contributions, drawings, profits and losses, so each party ends up with the correct share — not just an even one.
Proceeds Held on Trust
Where sale proceeds sit in a trust account pending resolution, we act to secure and then release them to the right parties in the right shares.
Death or Exit of a Partner
Disputes between surviving partners and a departing partner — or a deceased partner’s estate — over the account and the future of the business.
Fiduciary & Development Disputes
Breach of the loyalty and disclosure duties partners and co-venturers owe each other — diverted opportunities, secret profits and self-dealing.
Who We Act For
Development Partners & Co-Venturers
People who bought and developed a site together — townhouses, units or a subdivision — and now can’t agree on the split once it’s built and sold.
- Dissolution & winding up
- Account of profits & costs
- Releasing the sale proceeds
Surviving Partners & Estates
Where a partner has died mid-venture or after completion, and the surviving partners and the deceased’s estate can’t agree on the account between them.
- Continuing or closing the venture
- Account between the parties
- Getting proceeds out of trust
Investors & Silent Partners
People who put money or land into a venture on a promise of a share of the profit, and now need that interest recognised and paid out.
- Proving the arrangement
- Protecting the contribution
- Recovering the entitlement
What You Need to Know Before You Act
A Partnership Can Exist Without a Contract
Sharing the profits of a joint property venture can create a partnership at law even with nothing signed. What matters is what the parties actually agreed and did.
Dissolution Doesn’t End the Account
Ending the venture is only step one. The real work — and the real money — is in the taking of accounts, which decides who gets what.
Secure the Money Early
Where proceeds sit in a trust account, moving early to secure them and prevent distribution often protects your position more than anything else.
Fiduciary Duties Bite
Partners and co-venturers owe each other duties of loyalty and disclosure. Diverting an opportunity or taking a secret profit can be unwound and recovered.
Evidence Is Everything
These disputes turn on emails, bank records, contributions and conduct. Securing that evidence early is often what decides them.
Death Complicates the Account — It Doesn’t Stop It
When a partner dies, the surviving partners and the estate still have to account. We identify the right parties and the correct process.
How We Resolve a Partnership or Venture Dispute
Fixed-Fee Scoping
Send us what you have — any agreement or emails, the development details, the trust-account position and a short history. We assess whether a partnership exists and what you’re owed.
Strategy & Securing the Funds
We set the strategy and, where proceeds are at risk, move quickly to secure them — by agreement, undertaking or Court order — before anything is distributed.
Negotiation & Mediation
Most venture disputes settle once the numbers are on the table. We negotiate the account and the split, and use mediation where it helps.
Proceedings, If Needed
If it won’t settle, we bring or defend proceedings in the Supreme Court (Equity Division) — declaration, dissolution, receiver and account — briefing counsel where warranted.
Account, Distribution & Close-Out
We see the account through, distribute the proceeds to the right parties in the right shares, and close the venture off cleanly.
Why Choose Corporate Legal
Property + Partnership
We combine property and equity litigation with a real grasp of how development ventures actually work.
We Follow the Money
Securing and then releasing trust-held sale proceeds is central to what we do.
Commercial, Not Combative
We measure every step against the value at stake and the cost of the fight.
Fixed-Fee Scoping
A clear read on whether you have a partnership, and what it’s worth, before you commit.
Equity Court Experience
Genuine Supreme Court (Equity Division) experience in dissolution and account.
The Whole Journey
From the dispute, through the sale, to the documents that prevent the next one.
Once the venture is dissolved and the account taken, our conveyancing and property teams can handle the sale or transfer of the development and document the structure — so the next project is built on a proper agreement, not a handshake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it a partnership if we never signed anything?
My development partner and I have fallen out — how do I get out?
The sale proceeds are sitting in a trust account — can I stop them being paid out?
A partner has died — what happens to the venture?
What does “taking an account” actually mean?
How is this different from a co-ownership dispute?
A property venture that’s fallen apart — with money on the table?
Get a fixed-fee, plain-English read on whether you have a partnership, what you’re owed, and how to secure it — before the proceeds are distributed.
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