Usually a partnership agreement will set out what is to happen on any partner departing the business but this is not the case with a company or unit trust structure. In these situations, you need to make a separate agreement dealing with these issues.
In the case of a company, it is known as a shareholders’ agreement. Under this agreement all the shareholders agree on issues such as having to offer the shares back to the remaining shareholders before they may offer them to external third parties. The agreement will set out how the shares are to be valued, what is to happen if any shareholder rejects the offer to buy the departing shareholder’s shares and how the sale price is to be paid to the departing shareholder. It will have provisions dealing with approving any external third party who may buy the departing shareholder’s shares. 

You may also include provisions setting out what each of the shareholders is to contribute to the running of the business and what conduct you consider should be treated as misconduct or a default. Really, anything about the relationship between the shareholders can be included in this agreement, although the purpose of this article is to address how shareholders may exit the business. A similar agreement can be, and, should be, made between unit holders of a unit trust. Another issue you should consider is where the funds will come from to buy out the shareholder, partner or unit holder who is departing or has suffered an event such as death or permanent disability. If you are concerned that the funds will not be available in the business, then the purchase monies can be funded through an arrangement combining an insurance plan and a ‘buy/sell’ agreement.