To decide if your business partnership is truly in trouble or just experiencing a normal level of conflict, you can start by focusing on a handful of questions. Problems most often arise in four areas: operations and management, finances, trust, and interpersonal relationships.

1. Operational. Do you and your partner agree on the main direction of business? Do you find yourself stepping over each other because you don’t fully agree on the roles you play in the business? Do you find that some things slip away because neither of you has taken primary responsibility, or because your partner doesn’t take responsibility as much as they should? Should you or your partner have different titles to reflect greater responsibility or contribution?
2. Financial. Do you feel taken advantage of because your partner isn’t doing their part, or do you think you’re underpaid for your contribution? Are there legitimate financial problems? Worse yet, are third-party business creditors after you individually, whether or not you personally guaranteed your debt?
3. Confidence. Is there a reluctance to sign an LLC agreement or shareholder agreement since a document could set the rights in stone? Has there been difficulty in sharing or obtaining financial or other company information? Do you suspect fraud, steal the top of the deal, take too much commercial material for personal use (or use in another business), or even something clandestine that could deprive you of financial gain?
4. interpersonal. Does competition outweigh cooperation, to the point where one partner constantly undermines the other or plays the blame game when something goes wrong? Does your partner have a great need for control? Does your partner sometimes seem irrational (or, to put it another way, act based on assumptions about the world you don’t share)? Are you uncomfortable with the level or style of long-term conflict? Most importantly, do you feel disdain towards your partner or do they treat you with disdain?

What can you do about it. If you answered “yes” to some of these questions, you may want to keep an eye on things to make sure they don’t escalate into a more difficult situation. If any of these sound familiar to you, then you need to take action immediately before the escalating conflict damages the business. Regular meetings help: They give you a chance to break big problems down into manageable chunks. A management consultant or mediator who understands business can help you decide if you can fix the roots of the problem. You can even hire a conflict coach if conflicting communication styles are a concern.

Breaking up is hard. If you’re thinking of going your separate ways, you have plenty of options. you can start with talks, bringing in attorneys as needed. You can also consider mediationthat it is a goal-oriented conversation facilitated by a neutral third party, or collaborative law, a highly structured negotiation process in which specially trained lawyers help resolve issues rather than take on a lead adversarial role, sometimes with the help of mutually agreed-upon experts or a conflict coach. Negotiation, mediation, or collaboration have the advantage of allowing you to structure your own resolution in private rather than having one imposed on you in public, and often result in keeping the personal relationship between the partners intact. Litigation It has its place, if you don’t mind a public court with loss of control. In addition, many people find that the path to trial is more costly, disruptive, and time-consuming than they had imagined. Consider what is important to you when choosing your approach.