Keystone Legal acts for the owners of closely held businesses in Alberta when the relationship between them breaks down, and drafts the agreements that settle beforehand how they will part. Most of the work is contentious and concerns oppression claims by minority shareholders, deadlock between equal owners, partners who leave or are pushed out, breaches of shareholder and partnership agreements, disputes inside family companies, and contract claims. Contested matters proceed at the Court of King’s Bench in Calgary, where counsel appears in person, and in Edmonton through agent counsel acting on the firm’s instructions. Contract and debt claims of $100,000 or less may be brought at the Alberta Court of Justice; oppression applications are brought at the Court of King’s Bench whatever the amount.
Shareholder and partnership disputes: the oppression remedy, deadlock, derivative actions, buyouts and winding up.
Business and contract disputes: breach of contract, unpaid accounts, restrictive covenants, disputes over the sale of a business, demand letters and claims.
Shareholder and partnership agreements: buy-sell terms, valuation, death and disability, dividend policy, deadlock and exit, drafted so that a disagreement between the owners is answered by the agreement rather than by the Court.
Family companies: where the shareholders are also a family, the dispute is usually also an estate or a family property matter, and the firm handles all three.
Where the firm acts
Agreements, advice and negotiated buyouts are available anywhere in Alberta. The practice is virtual, with meetings in Cochrane or Calgary on request.
