How do you safely have joint ownership of a website?

I want to do a joint venture where one of us runs/maintains the website and I do the seo side of it. Is there any way of doing this in a way that means neither of us could just take the domain name and screw the other person over??

Thanks

 

Sign a contract with them!!!!

 

Contracts work if there are large somes of money at stake. If he/she steals the website you'll spend more time and money trying to retrieve your share.
If you're in the same country you may want to register a corporation. Then you'll be covered under corporate law of your location.
First step would to do your due diligence. Look into the person. Asks him/her questions. If they're going to be your partner they'll have no problem answering.
After they've answered ask for references that you can contact. No email get phone numbers.
Find out as much as you can about them. Meet them if you can.
PM me and I can explain further.

 

On the legal side a contract will cover you, detailing that both parties need to give consent for certain actions to be performed. On a technical side there's not much if you both want equal access - but explaining to any hosting provider you work with that you're both in ownership may help!

 

Contracts will cover you, but what would you do about it if your website was stolen?

 

yeah the problem is, I likely wont make enough money from it for it to be worth involving a lawyer

 

Write up a contract that is as detailed as it can be explain both your roles and sole purposes is towards the company. You can include just about anything in this contract. Have it say that you both own 50/50 of the said business / company / website.

You can even consult to a lawyer at first and see what they have to say . But most times having a contract written and signed by both party's sums everything up and once they know a contract is involved then they will know your not playing games and this is the real deal.

Other than that you can ask them as much questions as you possibly feel you need to in order for you to feel more secured. Just explain to them that you have to make sure this is a legit thing you guys are working on and that no back staving will occur. Ask for references and contact them on your behalf to make sure they are good people and have not messed anyone else's business up or tried any slick stuff in the past .

 

I have a generic contract that I can custom for you. PM me

 

But how could you prove you didn't acquire their signature somehow and sign it yourself? Or edit the contract and copy their signature from the previous contract?

 

Register under your name the domain name if you're a serious guy. Also have full access to root and make backups once awhile(web hosting), just in case things go nasty. Make sure you aint gonna screw your partner.

 

You are right, the person with the domain name could just lock you out and you are screwed. Like you mentioned it will probably not be worth tens of thousands of dollars possibly hundreds of thousands in legal fees to get it back.

Contracts are worthless unless you have a way to enforce them.