GP Partnerships Flier

Tughans is one of the leading commercial law firms in Northern Ireland. The firm has its principal office in Belfast with further offices in Derry and Lurgan.

Tughans’ Partnership Unit has developed to meet the ever increasing needs of clients in Northern Ireland for advice on a variety of partnership law issues, including those concerning GP Partnerships.

The majority of GPs in Northern Ireland operate as partnerships. Having a properly drafted, up to date and signed written partnership agreement is important for many reasons including setting out the main terms of the partner’s business relationship, the responsibilities of each partner and what should happen in different types of situations.

If there is no partnership agreement the provisions of the Partnership Act 1890 apply, which are not always appropriate for a modern business:
(i) a partnership may be dissolved (i.e. brought to an immediate end) by any partner serving a notice on his/her fellow partners
(ii) profits are assumed to be shared equally
(iii) there is no mechanism for partners to leave the partnership without dissolving the partnership.

The British Medical Association strongly recommends that all GP Partnerships share a written, up to date partnership agreement.

General Medical Services Contracts (“GMS2”) are made between the Health and Social Services Boards or Trusts in Northern Ireland and the partnerships, not individual GPs. It is therefore important that the terms of the GP Partnership Agreement should dovetail with the rights and obligations under GMS2.

Tughans principal areas of work include:

• Drafting GP Partnership Agreements
• Updating GP Partnership Agreements to take account of changes in the partnership itself and the provisions of GMS2
• Salaried Partnership Agreements
• Admission of new partners and exit strategies for retiring or leaving partners
• Partnership business sales, mergers and acquisitions
• Dissolution of Partnerships
• Dispute Resolution
• Incorporation of Partnerships into limited companies or Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)
• Declarations of Trust.

Our partnership lawyers are supported by lawyers from specialist disciplines across the firm including those in Corporate, Employment, Planning, Litigation and Commercial Property Law. This enables Tughans to offer seamless advice to GP Partnerships on a wide range of legal issues.

For further information, please speak directly to: