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Father/gp Stopped My Partnership Distributions But Continues Paying Siblings - Is This Legal?

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Location: Bay Area

I'm a limited partner in a California LP along with my three siblings. My father is the general partner and also holds 51% through his trust. My siblings and I each own 12%. The partnership receives monthly distributions from a real estate investment and normally pays those out to all the partners.

About three months ago, my father stopped my cash distributions but continued paying my siblings. He's tied resuming my payments to a 12-month personal condition I need to meet. I'm not fighting the pause itself right now, but his explanation of what happens to my share during the pause doesn't make sense to me.

He's saying that my capital account doesn't grow during this pause and that the money won't accumulate to be paid out later. He says this is completely within his authority as GP and not up for negotiation. But here's what I don't understand: if the partnership is generating income every month and distributing it to my siblings, where does my 12% go? How can I still own 12% of the partnership but my share of the income just doesn't exist?

I looked at the partnership agreement and it says the GP needs a majority vote from the partners to distribute money unevenly - which makes sense, otherwise the GP could just pay themselves and screw everyone else. My siblings are getting paid and I'm not, so that seems pretty clearly uneven. But no vote happened that I know of.

For context: my relationship with my father has gotten pretty toxic, and I've been grey-rocking him recently to protect myself from the narcissistic patterns. This partnership was set up years ago as part of his estate planning - not something I negotiated or asked for. The personal stuff is probably why he's doing this, but I'm trying to separate the family drama from the legal reality. Regardless of our relationship, I still own 12% on paper.

My questions:

  1. If the partnership is making money and paying my siblings, where does my 12% share actually go? How can I own 12% but my share doesn't accumulate?
  2. Can the GP just decide to pay some partners and not others without a vote? The agreement says he needs one, but he's saying it's completely within his authority.
  3. Is there any legal way I can own 12% of the partnership but get 0% of the income it generates?

Is my father legally correct here, or is this actually a violation of the partnership agreement? And how does the accounting even work if I still own 12% but nothing accumulates?

Yes, I know I should talk to an attorney and I will if I need to escalate this. But this is my father, so I'm trying to understand the legal mechanics first before I make it nuclear. Any insight would be really helpful.

submitted by /u/zvette415
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