When you form a partnership to run a small business, your partners will probably be family members, close friends or business associates. You may think it's unnecessary to sign a document with people you know quite well.
Experience proves otherwise.
No matter how rosy things are at the beginning, every partnership inevitably faces problems over the years. You can, however, have a legally valid partnership even without a written partnership agreement. If you don't sign an agreement, the laws of your state will dictate how the partnership is run. That isn't all bad. States have sometimes made slight variations in these laws but there is still a remarkable amount of consistency from state to state.