List every account and whose name it is in, decide in writing who keeps the domain, site, email and listings, and keep the old site and addresses working, with redirects, until customers have found both businesses.

One name on everything

When two partners start a business, one of them usually sets up the website. The domain goes in that person's name, the hosting goes on their credit card, and the social accounts are opened from their phone.

Nobody thinks about it again until the partnership ends. Then the business's whole online presence turns out to belong, on paper, to one of the two people separating.

Sometimes that person is the one staying, and sorting it out is a formality. Sometimes it is the one leaving, which is harder.

The worst outcome is the one neither partner wants: a cancelled card, a lapsed domain, and a website that vanishes for both partners' customers in the middle of the separation.

Find out whose name is on what

The third is the one that causes sudden outages. A departing partner closes a personal card, a renewal fails some months later, and nobody notices until the site stops loading.

The domain comes first

Whoever controls the domain controls the website and the email, because the domain decides where both are delivered. Settle it before anything else.

The registrant, the person or organisation the domain is registered to, is its legal holder. If that is one partner personally rather than the business, the domain is theirs until it is formally changed.

Changing the registrant is a routine process at the registrar, but it needs the current registrant's cooperation. For a .ca address, the new registrant also has to meet the Canadian presence rules.

Who keeps the name

Most separations go one of two ways. One partner keeps the business name, with its domain, site and listings, and the other starts again under a new name.

Or neither keeps the name, and the old site becomes a short page explaining that the business has split, with a link and a phone number for each new business.

The first is simpler for customers. The second is fairer when both partners built the reputation, and it keeps old links and old business cards leading somewhere useful.

Addresses with a person's name in them

The departing partner's address at the business domain will keep receiving mail for years: clients, suppliers, newsletters, password resets.

Agree how long it forwards to their new address, or carries an automatic reply with their new details. A year is a reasonable period.

The departing partner should also move the logins of their personal accounts off that address. Otherwise password resets for their own bank or social accounts land in a mailbox the other partner now controls.

A worked example

Two event planners ran a partnership for six years, planning weddings and corporate dinners from a shared studio.

Early on, one of them had set up the domain, the site, the email and the Instagram account, all in her own name and from her personal email.

She was the one leaving. The split was friendly, but the online accounts were the hardest part of it, because every one of them pointed to her personally.

The Instagram account held six years of event photographs. The Google listing held reviews that mentioned both planners by first name.

They agreed in writing that the remaining partner would keep the name, domain, site, listing and Instagram account. The registrant and every login moved to the business, and the departing partner's address forwards to her new one for a year.

The old site carries a short page for six months linking to her new site. She took copies of photographs from the events she had led, with each photographer's permission.

Reviews and listings stay put

Reviews belong to the listing they were left on. They cannot be moved to a new Google or Facebook listing, whoever earned them.

A partner starting a new business starts with no reviews, and the straightforward way to change that is to ask the new business's clients for reviews once they have used it, including past clients who follow the partner across.

Testimonials quoted on the old website are slightly different. They were given to the old business, so using them on a new site needs each client's agreement.

Social accounts and photographs

An Instagram account is usually one login, known to whoever set it up. A Facebook Page has roles held by personal profiles, so a departing partner's admin role has to be removed, not just a password changed.

Photographs need their own conversation. A professional photographer usually licenses images to the client who hired them, so check what each licence allows before either business reuses them.

Keep the old addresses working

Customers will keep using the old domain for years, from bookmarks, old emails, printed cards and search results that update slowly.

Redirect each old page permanently to its equivalent on whichever site now covers it, so an old link to the services page lands on a services page. It is an afternoon's work for whoever manages the site.

Keep the old domain renewed for several years even if nobody uses it. A lapsed domain can be registered by a stranger, who would then receive any email still sent to the old addresses.

The counter-case

Some splits are simple. A partner retiring from a business that carries on unchanged may need only a name taken off an account and an address forwarded.

A very small business with a one-page site and no listings has less to divide, and can settle it in an afternoon.

But even the simplest split needs the registrant checked and the logins moved, in writing, before the partner leaves.

The order to do it in

  1. List every account and whose name it uses.
  2. Settle the domain before anything else.
  3. Put the decisions in the separation agreement.
  4. Move logins and cards to the business.
  5. Forward the departing partner's address for a year.
  6. Redirect old pages to their new homes.
  7. Keep renewing the old domain for years.

Step three is what keeps this from becoming a dispute later. A lawyer drafting the separation agreement can cover the online accounts, but only if someone hands over the list from step one.

The rules on who may hold a Canadian domain in the first place are covered in who can own a .ca address.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns the domain after a partnership ends?

Whoever is listed as the registrant, its legal holder. If that is one partner personally rather than the business, it stays theirs until the registrant is formally changed.

What should we list before splitting the website?

The domain registrant, registrar and hosting logins, the cards paying renewals, email accounts, social accounts and admin roles, the Google listing owner, and the phone number account.

Can reviews move to the new business?

No. Reviews stay on the listing where they were left. A partner starting a new business begins with none, and can ask its clients for reviews once they have used it.

What happens to the departing partner's email address?

Agree a period, such as a year, during which it forwards to their new address or sends an automatic reply. They should move personal account logins off it first.

Why keep renewing a domain nobody uses?

Because customers keep using it for years, and a lapsed domain can be registered by a stranger who would then receive email sent to the old addresses.

What if neither partner keeps the name?

Turn the old site into a short page explaining the split, with a link and phone number for each new business, and keep it up while customers adjust.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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