How to leave or end a partnership
Partnerships Act, 2012 · sources read 4 Oct 2026
You can resign from a partnership by giving the other partners at least three months' notice. A partnership with no fixed term is dissolved if at least half the partners decide so, and any partner can ask the court to remove a partner or break up the partnership.
- Deadline
- Resignation needs at least three months' notice. In a partnership of three or more, another partner can resign at the same time with two weeks' written notice.
- Where
- Notice to the other partners; disputes go to the High Court (or Magistrate's Court where partnership assets are KSh 300,000 or less)
Steps
- Give the other partners notice that you are resigning, at least three months before it takes effect.
- To end the whole partnership (one with no fixed term), at least half of the partners must decide to dissolve it.
- If partners can't agree, any partner can apply to court to remove themselves or another partner, or to break up the partnership. The court looks at things like misconduct, breach of the agreement, fraud and losses.
- After leaving, you may publish a notice that you are no longer a partner, and the others must give any consent needed.
Watch out
- Leaving doesn't free you from debts the partnership ran up while you were a partner.
- A majority can expel a partner only after a court order under s. 44 or an attachment of the partner's share for a private debt, and only with at least three months' notice.
- A partnership breaks up automatically if fewer than two partners remain, or a fixed term ends.
Who this covers
- Any partner in an ordinary partnership
Official sources (1)
- Partnerships Act, 2012 (No. 16 of 2012) new.kenyalaw.org · read 4 Oct 2026