a. What is the definition of a partnership pursuant to the Uniform Partnership Act (UPA)?
b. What factors do courts consider in determining whether a partnership exists?
Tina Raymer ran a cleaning service, while Jeffrey Finch was a carpenter and boilermaker. A few months after they began dating, he moved into her mobile home. When the mobile home caught fire, the couple devised a business plan: Together, they would repair it, sell it, and then split the proceeds. But the deal changed slightly instead, of splitting the profit, they deposited it in a joint checking account, along with all their other income.
On that momentum, Raymer "flipped"-or bought, remodeled, and sold-another house. Then Raymer decided she would like to build a house. She and Finch worked on the project together, visiting land and meeting sellers. But on the day that Raymer bought land on Pack Hill Road Finch was at work. He knew that both the mortgage and the deed to the property were in her name alone. Finch and Tina's father then worked together to build a house on the property, which the couple moved into. Raymer and Finch paid the mortgage, their living expenses, and all business expenses out of their joint checking account.
Some months later, Finch sold a house that he had owned before he met Raymer and used the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on Pack Hill. The couple then took out a loan on the Pack Hill house to flip 12 more properties. All the proceeds from these sales went into their joint checking account, even though only nine were jointly owned.
Raymer worked full time in this real estate business, managing the finances and also doing some of the renovations. Finch worked part-time on the renovations between boilermaker jobs. As the couple's profits grew, they buried $80,000 in cash in an ammunition box underneath the Pack Hill house.
When the couple ultimately broke up, they divided the money in the ammunition box equally. Finch also took half the funds in the joint checking account, and then removed his name, leaving Raymer with the balance. All was smooth until it came to the Pack Hill property and furnishings. She claimed that it was all hers.
Finch filed suit against Raymer, alleging that their partnership owned the Pack Hill property and he was entitled to half its value. Raymer agreed that she and Finch were partners in the other properties but not in Pack Hill.