If a complete acquisition or sale of a dental practice is the parties’ intent, they might consider a partnership to enable joint ownership of a dental practice.  

A partnership between two or more dentists can take a variety of forms including:

• An equal (i.e. 50/50) partnership

• One partner has a majority interest (i.e. 51/49) and controls major decisions

• One partner buys a portion of the other’s ownership each year for a period of years

In any case, having a well-crafted partnership agreement and a buy-sell agreement is vital to the success and stability of the partnership and the practice.

Dental partnerships can be between individuals or between corporations.

A corporation can also serve as a de-facto partnership vehicle by having more than one shareholder.  In such a case, it is vital that proper control structures be put into place to ensure the governance of the partnership is according to the parties’ desires.  A buy-sell agreement is also vital in such an arrangement. Robert Sanders assists dentists with these structures.