Expert Witness Journal Issue 65 February 2026 - Flipbook - Page 17
Till death do us part …?
by Paul Burchett, Associate Director, Forensic Services at Crowe U.K. LLP
This phrase is most commonly heard in the context
of marriage, two people join in union with the
expectation that nothing will come between them
until a natural end separates them.
pre-nuptial agreement for a marriage – in other
words a partnership / shareholder agreement which
could have an unlimited number of arrangements
signed up to, such as division of pro昀椀t, methods for
valuing shares on any exit, or maybe agreement on
certain accounting treatments for areas which could
prove litigious, such as long term contracts or asset
depreciation.
In the context of a shareholder or partnership
dispute (reference to ‘partnerships’ in this article
covers both forms of investment), this theme is not
too dissimilar. It would be odd for any shareholder
to invest in a limited company, or any two or more
partners to go into business together, without there
being an initial level of trust or con昀椀dence amongst
all the parties involved.
Of course, many businesses never have any real need
to refer to a partnership agreement, and just as many
will never write up any sort of agreement in the 昀椀rst
place. However, unlike marriage where two parties
generally make their vows never contemplating that
one day it won’t work out, business is just what it says
on the tin, it’s business, and you can never forecast
what the future may hold, with regards people,
relationships, the local and global economies,
industries, in昀氀ation or the political climate, to name
but a few factors.
However, the course of true business never did run
smooth (credit: Lysander speaking in Act 1/ Scene 1
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and there are many
obstacles that can block or upset the course of any
business.
•
Have the partners very di昀昀erent ideologies
on how to grow the business, 昀椀nance the
business, or pass the business on with regards to
succession planning?
•
Do any of the partners have outside issues
a昀昀ecting the course of the business, such as
personal debts, gambling addictions, personal
family matters?
•
Are any of the partners dipping their 昀椀ngers “in
the till” or falsifying records to ‘window dress’
the accounts?
•
Are certain parties ganging up on another,
excluding them from the business?
•
Is this a family business that is maybe closing
ranks on an ‘outsider’?
Expert witnesses
But where partnership disputes do arise, expert
witnesses from the 昀椀eld of forensic are frequently
instructed to assist the Court. This might be on a
party appointed basis whereby a forensic accountant
acts for a single partner, or a group of partners. Or,
if the parties haven’t reached too acrimonious a
position in their dispute, appointed on a joint basis
by the parties in the role of single joint expert.
This could form part of a litigation process that may
go all the way to Court (potentially costing everyone
an eye watering sum of money) or could be purely
advisory whereby the parties agree to act on the
expert’s opinion. The need for an expert can arise
under various di昀昀erent scenarios, some examples of
which are set out below.
Partnership or shareholder agreements
Any range of issues can lead to matters reaching
a head and partners falling out. One way of
mitigating this occurrence is the equivalent of a
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
15
FEBRUARY 2026
