Emperor Duncan

Thank you, Paul. I appreciate you taking the time to lay out the initial steps for us. Having everything in place will make it easier to find the attorney who can help us navigate our options- and as you stated, better understand if this is employment law or something that may have been unlawful. This is uncharted territory for us, so we greatly appreciate your straightforward guidance! Thank you again for the first steps, have a great week.

Thank you all. Yes, a tax attorney reviewed the initial agreement without any suggestions. Bill mentioned a CPA; finances were profitable at the time, but the practice had not repaid COVID loans, leading to the debt realization after the fact. I assume this is an employment law attorney for the work conditions. Does the promise of benefits in the initial letter of intent to hire, but not providing those benefits, fall within an employment lawyer's expertise? Would they also specialize in contracts related to ownership, or is there a specific type of attorney better suited for this scenario?

I’ve been impressed with the guidance on this site, so I'm sharing my story. My wife signed a letter of intent for her job as a family medicine doctor a decade ago, which specifically stated the benefit of a retirement plan as part of her employment package. After ten years without receiving any retirement benefits, she was promised part ownership of her medical practice. We were ecstatic. We both signed agreements under the assurance that this was risk-free and would benefit us from the eventual sale of the practice. She was verbally promised frequent dividends to pay down her ownership loan. However, we later discovered that the medical practice was only profitable because it failed to repay federal COVID loans, and the company had actually been incurring debt. We have received no dividends. Now, my wife is part owner of a massive debt, nearly more than the equity of our home. If she leaves her job, we lose everything—our home, our two young children’s college funds. Staying has resulted in the realities of mismanagement: significant pay cuts, additional responsibilities, and denied earned paid time off to offset company debt. Her salary, along with another owner's, has been cut by 20%, while two new doctors, just out of residency, have been hired at double her salary. She is increasingly burdened with more tasks because she cannot resign under the threat of having to pay off the debt, while work conditions worsen. Between the empty promise of retirement benefits and the reduced salary, her ownership loan accrues interest without any of the promised dividends or reliable salary to pay it down. Our family is getting deeper and deeper in debt with absolutely nothing to show for it. It seems we have been conned into supporting something her boss owns, and possibly their lifestyle, from which we derive no tangible benefit. I cannot fathom that we owe $200K+ on something we cannot touch, experience, or benefit from. I was frugal in my early years, planning for our children’s college fund and early retirement as an engineer, but all of this fiscally responsible planning is being wiped out due to her current employer's mismanagement. What can we do? We fear bankruptcy and worse. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thank you! -Desperate in Denver