Pictured above: Helen Gough

Bitter family feuds can break out when business comes before blood, a Midlands lawyer has warned.

Helen Gough, a lawyer in the agricultural department at Lodders Solicitors in Stratford-upon-Avon, says relatives or friends should always get an agreement drawn up so there can be no recriminations if ultimately it all goes wrong.

Miss Gough handles a number of cases involving contentious agricultural issues.

"You should always ensure your head rules your heart," she stressed.

All too often family members joined forces on an enterprise and deemed formalities to be unnecessary, so they didn't bother to get something official drawn up.

"They say they know each other so well there is no need.

"But emotion and personality raises its head … and it all goes wrong.

"Then the lawyer, whose advice to do it the right way in the first place was ignored, is left to pick up the pieces.

"Lawyers see this happening all the time.

"If we are talking a commercial proposition, especially where assets are involved, get a written deal laid down, so each of you knows your position and responsibilities.

"It makes it much easier to sort out if there is a subsequent dispute and you decide to go your separate ways," she said.

She said that the concern was there could be substantial unnecessary costs incurred by parties trying to sort things out later.

"As a firm, we look to try and keep these to a minimum by exploring ways to reach a settlement between the parties," she said.

There was also the danger that delays in reaching agreements could affect the ability to conclude agreements or deals connected to assets or property affected by a dispute.

There was the risk that both parties could miss out on good opportunities while they were preoccupied with the dispute.

She warned: "The central issue often comes down to the fact that both sides can become entrenched in their own arguments and 'winning' becomes a matter of principle rather than sound commercial judgement which, if they had had an agreement at the start of their business relationship, could have been avoided."

For more information about Lodders, please visit their website here: www.lodders.co.uk