Your Handshake Just Killed Your Business

Under Philippine law, handshake partnerships dissolve when a partner dies—freezing assets, triggering liquidation, and destroying livelihoods.

Article 1830 of the Civil Code is clear: death dissolves the partnership. Banks freeze accounts. Courts order liquidation. Surviving partners cannot operate. Heirs cannot step in. Without a written agreement, the business doesn't fail from competition—it fails from absence of documentation.

This is a legal time bomb ticking under countless Filipino enterprises. The fix is simple: formalize with a Partnership Agreement containing continuation and buy-sell provisions, or incorporate under the Revised Corporation Code for perpetual existence. Paper today saves everything tomorrow.