Co ownership agreement?

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macgyver3280

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Macgyver
I am considering a purchase of a 172 and will be entering into co-ownership with 3 other individuals. This is my first co-ownership en devour as it pertains to aircraft an aircraft purchase. Does anybody have a co-ownership agreement that they have used and worked well that they would be willing to share with me. I understand I need to consult an attorney with the final draft but I am just curious on how others have set it up when it comes to pay per hour vs. splitting costs outright and everything else that needs to be addressed in co-ownership.

I am an A&P with an IA and will be doing all of the maintenance as well. Trying to figure out best way to incorporate my fees into that as well.

Thank You,
macgyver3280@gmail.com
 
AOPA has good info on clubs, which would be a similar deal with a partnership.

AOPA.org
 
Have to agree, the info from AOPA ,seems to work well,for most partnerships.
 
macgyver3280 said:
I am an A&P with an IA and will be doing all of the maintenance as well. Trying to figure out best way to incorporate my fees into that as well.
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IMHO, this is where things are going to get thorny. In a partnership/co-ownership situation, every partner should be bringing something to the table and contributing time, skills, etc. That's just part of the deal. One partner will do the books/finances, another will take responsibility for ensuring the hangar is clean and stocked, another will manage/track maintenance, another may be a CFI who helps the others with checkouts, currency, etc. I get that you're an A&P/IA with special skills, but when partners start wanting to charge each other or the partnership for their contributions, I personally think you lose a lot of the "spirit" of co-ownership and it threatens the balance of the whole arrangement. My personal opinion is that you shouldn't charge the partnership for your time (though your partners need to understand that you work on your schedule, not theirs, since you're working for free). In my partnership, I do the books/finances and I'm the instructor that helps keep my partners current. I'm not compensated for any of it, and I'm perfectly happy with the arrangement.
 
I see lots of opportunities where one member doing the maintenance and charging the partnership can go sideways. It won't be long until the others start questioning the hours spent on maintenance.

For the sanity of everyone involved, it is probably going to work out better if you own the plane outright and just come up with a usage agreement for the others (at times this is imprecisely referred to as 'non-equity partnership'). The others don't put down cash but pay a monthly contrjbution to the fixed expenses. After that it's just an hourly charge.
 
Make sure you have a buy-out clause, or some way for the remaining members to force-out a non-cooperative member or force sale of the aircraft if worst case.
I heard of one partnership near me where one of the co-owners just dissapeared, stopped paying, stopped responding; but technically he still own a share. So the story goes, the remaining co-owners wanted to sell the plane and dissolve the partnership but can't get him to respond or sign any paperwork to allow the sale, so the partnerships are stuck picking up the slack themselves.
 
ChopAndDrop said:
Make sure you have a buy-out clause, or some way for the remaining members to force-out a non-cooperative member or force sale of the aircraft if worst case.
I heard of one partnership near me where one of the co-owners just dissapeared, stopped paying, stopped responding; but technically he still own a share. So the story goes, the remaining co-owners wanted to sell the plane and dissolve the partnership but can't get him to respond or sign any paperwork to allow the sale, so the partnerships are stuck picking up the slack themselves.
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That can happen if everyone has their name on the registration . With a corporation or LLC, criteria for dissolution are typically spelled out in the bylaws/operating agreement.
 
weilke said:
I see lots of opportunities where one member doing the maintenance and charging the partnership can go sideways. It won't be long until the others start questioning the hours spent on maintenance.

For the sanity of everyone involved, it is probably going to work out better if you own the plane outright and just come up with a usage agreement for the others (at times this is imprecisely referred to as 'non-equity partnership'). The others don't put down cash but pay a monthly contrjbution to the fixed expenses. After that it's just an hourly charge.
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My partner is an a&p. I am not. But I make sure damn well anytime the plane is being worked on, I try to be in the hangar with him every minute. Sometimes he has me do the BS work, sometimes I am literally standing there holding a screwdriver for him. Believe me, I have learned a lot while helping him out. I actually bad if I am at work and he is working on the plane.
 
TommyG said:
My partner is an a&p. I am not. But I make sure damn well anytime the plane is being worked on, I try to be in the hangar with him every minute. Sometimes he has me do the BS work, sometimes I am literally standing there holding a screwdriver for him. Believe me, I have learned a lot while helping him out. I actually bad if I am at work and he is working on the plane.
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I was going to suggest that. Do the annual together working under supervision etc. In my current partnership we try to take turns on the oil changes and other owner maintenance or we meet to do the work.

I would expect friction if one partner started to charge the others for his work. The guy who does our finances doesn't charge his hourly fee either.
 
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