General partnership

In most countries, a general partnership (the basic form of partnership under common law), is an association of persons or an unincorporated company with the following major features:

It is a partnership in which partners share equally in both responsibility and liability.

Characteristics

Partnerships have certain default characteristics relating to both (a) the relationship between the individual partners and (b) the relationship between the partnership and the outside world. The former can generally be overridden by agreement between the partners, whereas the latter generally cannot be overridden this way.

The assets of the business are owned on behalf of the other partners, and they are each personally liable, jointly and severally, for business debts, taxes or tortious liability. For example, if a partnership defaults on a payment to a creditor, the partners' personal assets are subject to attachment and liquidation to pay the creditor.