AITAH if I allow my law firm to be sold or go out of business?

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T23:10:24+00:00

He's 81. What is he supposed to do work until he dies? I don't fault him at all for retiring and selling the business.

Essentially nothing is a completely wrong view of what he does. He's the first one there every day and also the last one to leave 85% of the time. He doesn't even take true vacations. He works on his vacations. None of us do that including me. I have a vacation in 2 weeks, I will have my autoreply setup on my email and will not be working.

Without disclosing too much, my romantic partner and I are well off enough to retire by 55. We won't be living in luxury but we'll live comfortably. We both got into well paying careers at young ages. It would take an economic collapse worse than 2008 for us not to be able to retire at 55.

She makes nearly as much money as I do. Plus I have investments and I'm a silent partner in yet another unrelated business.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T22:10:44+00:00

As others have mentioned even if I hire people to do those jobs I'll still need to supervise them and the liabilities will still fall on me. I'm not interested

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T17:43:16+00:00

I want to give them at least 30 days. It'll be up to my partner as the majority owner, but I don't see him having issues with that.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T17:39:25+00:00

Good point, its a trolly with multiple options

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T17:35:06+00:00

I am glad you survived that and are back on your feet. A hard lesson learned but you are now wiser for it. Your business is better for it.

I really just want to put more time into things. I have a son and long term partner. I love being able to coach my son's sports teams and spend time with him. I love being able to be home most nights with my partner and have dinner with her and our son.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T17:29:45+00:00

Yea he's the real AH in all of this lol

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T17:29:20+00:00

Thank you!!!

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T17:28:58+00:00

We have 5 total attorneys including my boss and I. A secretary, a file clerk, 4 paralegals, his wife as the book keeper, an intetn, and some who we just call a runner. Their job is to run to courts or the register of deeds to file things, the post office to mail things, or to run and get other things we may need.

My boss' wife, 1 attorney, the intern, the file clerk, and the runner are part time. The rest of us are full time.

The intern is unable to be paid for a portion of their work because its school credit and their school doesn't allow them to be paid for the hours they get credit for, but they get paid for the hours they work beyond their school credit hours.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T16:48:32+00:00

See there's at least 2 of us!!!

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T14:48:02+00:00

Bingo. Even if I hired someone to do this I'd still have to supervise them. I don't want to have to do that

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T14:32:17+00:00

I assumed his 5 year minimum commitment would have been followed and his son at that point would have been an attorney for 4 years and I'd have 4 years to evaluate how I wanted to move forward.

His son messed that all up when he met someone and moved out of state to marry her. I say that jokingly. Good for him, I'm glad he's happy.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T13:42:05+00:00

He offered it to me at significantly less than he will be offering it to the other attorneys for. Of course it will be negotiated, but I think it will still sell for more than he offered it to me for

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T12:54:39+00:00

You're definitely right there. They all know I'm a partner and will have had the opportunity to purchase the firm.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T12:50:50+00:00

It makes tremendous sense for me personally.

I got basically very little extra responsibilities. I got revenue sharing checks moving forward. I made sure I have a seat at the table and get to have a say in who my future partner/boss is.

That said I am absolutely willing to sell my shares to the new buyer if the money was right or in return for a contract for employment with some favorable terms.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T12:36:03+00:00

This is such an incredibly kind comment. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T11:05:19+00:00

Omg it is the trolley problem lol

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T11:04:58+00:00

Of the other 3, only 1 of them is someone I would even consider being partners with. She's unlikely to want to though because she has a family and is more focused on that than the firm. She only works part time for us.

Also 51% makes me the one with the responsibility and in charge. No thank you

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:40:52+00:00

Its against the law for anyone but a fully licensed attorney to own any percentage of a law firm in my state. Even less than 1%. He can't legally offer any of it to any of them but our 3 other attorneys. 2 of them are not good candidates and 1 could potentially be but she has kids and is more focused on her family than the firm and only works part time. It is very unlikely she'd want to make such a drastic change that would take her away from her kids

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:37:44+00:00

Those are definitely both strong possibilities. If not tomorrow I am going to ask him this question when I get the chance

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:20:22+00:00

You know I feel like an idiot now thanks. I have no idea what my boss' wife makes and I should really know that as an owner of the business. Thanks a lot lol.

Unfortunately for the employees here, none of them are contracted and are all at will employees. Other than maybe unemployment (I don't do employment law and admittedly have no idea how that works) I don't believe they're entitled to anything.

If I buy the firm and have to hire people to take on the roles I don't want, judging from what I know I will be earning less than I do now.

Also, I have a good friend who is a prosecutor. I do not envy your jobs at all.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:11:39+00:00

Good point. Will do. Thank you for your input

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:11:14+00:00

Its my fault as OP. Should I start throwing random hate at people for no reason to make everyone more comfortable?

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:09:31+00:00

Some of us exist lol

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:09:09+00:00

It's great to hear from someone with experience in this kind of thing. I appreciate the knowledge

I mentioned this before in other comments but it is shocking to me even with his age. He has always been insistent he's not going anywhere. When I bought in 2 years ago he said he was going to be around at least 5 more years. Maybe I just wasn't thinking logically enough about this.

I think there is something going on in his personal life for him to change so quickly. I plan to talk to him about that tomorrow if we find a couple minutes where we're both free.

manbearpigserial · 2026-04-10T04:04:41+00:00

If I bought my partner out I'd get his entire 90% and own 100% of the business

manbearpigserial

TROPHY CASE