Husband's business partner is acting shady (brother, alcoholic, messages, abuse)
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This will be rather long but please bare with me, I need to get everything out, my stress level is very high. If its too long for you to read, please skip this post. Thanks.
My husband has been working for a restaurant since the beginning of 2016. He's known the owner since 2010, and at that point the restaurant had bad reviews, and business was doing very slow. The owner wanted to sell the restaurant, but my husband encouraged him to keep it, because of its location and potential to attract costumers. After much persuasion, the owner decided to keep the restaurant, but he said he doesnt want to deal with the restaurant any longer, it is up to my husband to get it up and running. Also at this time, he asked my husband if he wanted a 50% share of the restaurant, my husband thought it was a nice opportunity so he said yes. He borrowed some money from my mom, and also the money that we saved up. We were still 12k short of the 35k, but the owner said not to worry and that the balance will be subtracted from his paycheck.
So, for the past year since April, my husband has not been paid. We are living off of his tips, and I work part time in the morning so that I can watch the kids when he goes to work. We got our tax refund last month, and have been paying bills from that as well. This is not right. My husband had a great relationship with him, so never brought up the money issue, but its been a year, the 12k should've been paid off, and he's still not sitting down with my husband to go over the profit/loss. He keeps telling my husband that the restaurant is not bringing in as much income as my husband thinks (btw, since the restaurant reopened with a new name, and my husband has been in charge of customer service, it now has a 5 star review and local hot spot). They are satisfied with how well its going, and even gave credit to my husband for his persuasion to keep it going, but its all talk.
Their attitude changed towards my husband recently. They wanted to buy a car for the restaurants use to go shopping for stuff, and when its not in use the chef (which is also his brother in law) will have full access to it. They wanted my husband be the insurance holder of the vehicle, even though he's not driving it (the chef has a dui, alcoholic, substance abuse etc). He said no and since then he's been given a hard time. In the beginning, the owners were detached from the restaurant and had my husband build it up. Now that its doing well, they suddenly became more involved. Holding meetings, coming up with rules and treating my husband like an employee vs a business partner. He has no voice and people are stepping all over him.
So now, we are broke restaurant owners. We feel cheated, betrayed, and my dumb husband trusted that SOB so much that he didnt even have anything on paper. I know he doesnt deserve any sympathy because he was being super dumb and lied to my mom and me about signing some sort of agreement, but now me and the kids are in a bad spot because of this. I am also almost 13 weeks pregnant and feel so depressed and stressed out. I've lost so much weight because I am too depressed to eat anything.
This has been causing stress and tension between us, he doesnt even want to show up to work anymore. He always looks down and beaten, I dont even know what to do and I feel sorry for my kids who have to deal with stressed parents. I dont know if theres any advice that anyone could give me, but is there anything I can do to lower the stress level? Thinking about losing all our money makes me have a panic attack. This year so far is just not going well for me. Thanks.
If you never got anything in writing, you are pretty much out of luck.
If your husband kept track of his hours, he could go to the labor board because he was never paid any salary. That won't help the relationship, but it sounds like the relationship is shot, anyway.
There is always the possibility of getting a lawyer and suing for performance of the contract. That would be difficult because it was a verbal contract is can be very difficult to prove. You might sit down with a lawyer and talk to him about it before you decide what to do.
I suspect that this is going to be a very expensive lesson for you. Always get any financial agreement in writing and make sure you understand what the contract says.
If you never got anything in writing, you are pretty much out of luck.
If your husband kept track of his hours, he could go to the labor board because he was never paid any salary. That won't help the relationship, but it sounds like the relationship is shpt, anyway.
There is always the possibility of getting a lawyer and suing for performance of the contract. That would be difficult because it was a verbal contract is can be very difficult to prove. You might sit down with a lawyer and talk to him about it before you decide what to do.
I suspect that this is going to be a very expensive lesson for you. Always get any financial agreement in writing and make sure you understand what the contract says.
Is he technically an employee? Does he get a W-2?
If they are screwing him over, they are probably doing it to others as well. I would sniff around and see how the suppliers and other employees feel. Maybe there is enough to really go after this lowlife.
In the meantime, he needs to find another job. Why does he want to put even MORE money in their pocket?
Before my mom handed over the money, she advised my husband that he needs to sign a written contract in case anything goes wrong and my husband said he did. Now when things do go wrong, I brought it up and he came forward and told me there's nothing written because he trusted him. I swear, I feel so bitter towards my husband right now for putting us in this situation. Trusting someone is not worth the risk of losing everything. He told me that he's going to bring it up with his partner and they ended texting back and forth with the partner talking crap and then my husband texted "I just need a few hundred bucks to pay my auto loan." I had to shake my head, he actually showed me the messages.
If they are screwing him over, they are probably doing it to others as well. I would sniff around and see how the suppliers and other employees feel. Maybe there is enough to really go after this lowlife.
In the meantime, he needs to find another job. Why does he want to put even MORE money in their pocket?
Before my mom handed over the money, she advised my husband that he needs to sign a written contract in case anything goes wrong and my husband said he did. Now when things do go wrong, I brought it up and he came forward and told me there's nothing written because he trusted him. I swear, I feel so bitter towards my husband right now for putting us in this situation. Trusting someone is not worth the risk of losing everything. He told me that he's going to bring it up with his partner and they ended texting back and forth with the partner talking crap and then my husband texted "I just need a few hundred bucks to pay my auto loan." I had to shake my head, he actually showed me the messages.
This was incredibly foolish. The owner knows your husband is a sucker, and is trying to use him for as long as he can, for as much money as he can. Your husband doesn't have a leg to stand on--no proof that he's a co-owner or business partner.
Furthermore, your husband lied to you, or to your mom, saying he signed a contract. And through his foolhardiness, he's put the entire family's economic security at serious risk. This is the stuff of divorce; this is a very serious matter.
The only way I can imagine him getting out of this is to bite the bullet, face the fact that he just threw away your savings and some of your mom's money, and walk; find another job that pays decently. If there's no contract, he's under no obligation to the original owner, so he can walk out the door when he finds another job. Y'all would have to more or less start over from scratch, but it would be better than having his "partner" jerking him around and milking him for money into the foreseeable future. The "partner" thinks he has your hubs over a barrel, because so much money has already been invested, but you two can decide to call his bluff. He won't be expecting that.
Have a consult with a lawyer, just to make sure there won't be any legal repercussions when he quits.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 03-31-2017 at 02:10 PM..
This is something that needs to be kept between you and your husband.
Sit down, stay calm, work together and make a plan to get yourselves out of this situation.
Random strangers have no business in the middle of intimate details of a marriage/relationship that should be kept
*intimate* and involving only those who are involved.
This is something that needs to be kept between you and your husband.
Sit down, stay calm, work together and make a plan to get yourselves out of this situation.
Random strangers have no business in the middle of intimate details of a marriage/relationship that should be kept
*intimate* and involving only those who are involved.
She can come here and talk about whatever she wants to talk about. There are no "intimate" details here as she has not given names. She's asking for advice, opinions - she has the right to do so. Nothing wrong with that.
This will be rather long but please bare with me, I need to get everything out, my stress level is very high. If its too long for you to read, please skip this post. Thanks.
My husband has been working for a restaurant since the beginning of 2016. He's known the owner since 2010, and at that point the restaurant had bad reviews, and business was doing very slow. The owner wanted to sell the restaurant, but my husband encouraged him to keep it, because of its location and potential to attract costumers. After much persuasion, the owner decided to keep the restaurant, but he said he doesnt want to deal with the restaurant any longer, it is up to my husband to get it up and running. Also at this time, he asked my husband if he wanted a 50% share of the restaurant, my husband thought it was a nice opportunity so he said yes. He borrowed some money from my mom, and also the money that we saved up. We were still 12k short of the 35k, but the owner said not to worry and that the balance will be subtracted from his paycheck.
So, for the past year since April, my husband has not been paid. We are living off of his tips, and I work part time in the morning so that I can watch the kids when he goes to work. We got our tax refund last month, and have been paying bills from that as well. This is not right. My husband had a great relationship with him, so never brought up the money issue, but its been a year, the 12k should've been paid off, and he's still not sitting down with my husband to go over the profit/loss. He keeps telling my husband that the restaurant is not bringing in as much income as my husband thinks (btw, since the restaurant reopened with a new name, and my husband has been in charge of customer service, it now has a 5 star review and local hot spot). They are satisfied with how well its going, and even gave credit to my husband for his persuasion to keep it going, but its all talk.
Their attitude changed towards my husband recently. They wanted to buy a car for the restaurants use to go shopping for stuff, and when its not in use the chef (which is also his brother in law) will have full access to it. They wanted my husband be the insurance holder of the vehicle, even though he's not driving it (the chef has a dui, alcoholic, substance abuse etc). He said no and since then he's been given a hard time. In the beginning, the owners were detached from the restaurant and had my husband build it up. Now that its doing well, they suddenly became more involved. Holding meetings, coming up with rules and treating my husband like an employee vs a business partner. He has no voice and people are stepping all over him.
So now, we are broke restaurant owners. We feel cheated, betrayed, and my dumb husband trusted that SOB so much that he didnt even have anything on paper. I know he doesnt deserve any sympathy because he was being super dumb and lied to my mom and me about signing some sort of agreement, but now me and the kids are in a bad spot because of this. I am also almost 13 weeks pregnant and feel so depressed and stressed out. I've lost so much weight because I am too depressed to eat anything.
This has been causing stress and tension between us, he doesnt even want to show up to work anymore. He always looks down and beaten, I dont even know what to do and I feel sorry for my kids who have to deal with stressed parents. I dont know if theres any advice that anyone could give me, but is there anything I can do to lower the stress level? Thinking about losing all our money makes me have a panic attack. This year so far is just not going well for me. Thanks.
2 options, neither good
1. Cut bait and move on, you will lose a-lot of money but will be free of this situation.
2. Lawyer Up- take every piece of documentation you can find to a lawyer and see what can be done, it will be long, hard, expensive and possibly fruitless. The man (your husband) who steered you into this mess, is sure as hell not going to be able to get you out of it.
Either way or honestly any other way you come up with is going to be a suck filled party, strap in and get ready for some tough sledding. Hopefully your husband has learned his lesson.
I would probably send an email to the other owner. Try to bait him into admitting what he has done. If your husband could get him to write something like, "I know I told you that your investment of $35,000 was an agreement that you were buying half the business...", then you have something in writing. Show that to a lawyer.
But in the end, I think he will have just learned a very valuable lesson.
By the way, you are not "broke restaurant owners", you are just broke. You don't own anything. (sorry, I'm just really angry with your husband)
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