Need advice on setting up fractional ownership...

[SkyWolfe]

Heya gang!

Wolfie needs some advice on setting up fractional ownership - I have about 3 people interested in getting a tail dragger with me to build some time.

I hear bringing a plane up from the USA is more challenging, which is a little lame since there are a heck of a lot less tail birds in Canada... Well, for sale anyway.

How does it work? Do I go get a lawyer? Do I buy a plane and hope everyone else buys in through me?

I am sorry, I am completely ignorant to the concept, but we are all looking for cheap ways to build valuable time, and have a little fun at the same time.

I have looked at J3s, Stinsons, and Citabrias, maybe even a C140...

This whole thing need to be well thought out, and carefully planned, or I will end up out 25K+....

Advice and opinions please

Cheers,

Wolfie....

[Jungle Jim]

I'm partial to Stinsons because they are easy to fly, carry a good sized load and are probably the best bang for the buck with respect to 4 seat aircraft. With respect to partnerships check out: http://topten.org/public/BH/BH85.html

This is a good site that describes the things to be aware of. partnerships do work if you have the right mix of partners.

Jim

[mcrit]

What I would suggest is that you set up a corporation to own the aircraft. You can do this yourself without too much hassle (there are kits availalbe at most Staples stores), or you can get a lawyer/paralegal to do it. If you do it yourself it's about $400, a lawyer will cost about $1000. Once this is done you sell shares in the corporation to the partners in the a/c. Depending on the circumstances you may want to have a lawyer draw up the articles of incorporation and corprate bylaws (Do this if you want to place restrictions on how the partners can sell their shares, etc...). The other advantage is that it let's you have junior and senior partners. (If you want to keep a greater degree of control you only sell 49% of the shares)
Corporate ownership has some advantages. If someone wants to sell their share there is no need to re-register the a/c (as far as TC is concerned the corporation is the owner). There are some disadvantages. You will have to file a yearly tax return for your corp (this is not really a problem, just send revenue Canada a form that says you had no profit every year). You will have to have corporate officers (CEO, Sec & Tresurer). This is not a problem in that the jobs are just paper jobs and 1 person can do all 3. You will also have to have a board of directors.
Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if you've any questions.

[5x5]

If you or someone you know is a COPA member, their website has good information when you're getting started into ownership. They have a guide for buying an airplane link that has info on partnerships and I believe even a sample agreement.
http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm