Home · Business · Legal & Compliance · Disputes

PARTLY

As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly resolve a shareholder dispute.

This still needs a person who signs their name to it.

Can you do it?

15 minutesto a draft.

1 hourto something you’d act on.

Cost, all in£0

Skill neededchat-fluent

Who has to check ita professional

What the alternative costsA solicitor is the appropriate alternative for assessing the dispute, advising on your rights and approving any settlement; no fee is stated here.

If this goes wrong: you disclose a damaging position, miss a contractual step or accept a settlement that limits the company or your rights.

What to actually do

  1. Hand it to a person

    The route this page recommends

    Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

  2. Use a tool built for this

    Second choice

  3. Do it yourself

    The distant third

    A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

    How to actually do it

    1. Open the company’s current articles, shareholder agreement, subscription documents and relevant board or shareholder resolutions, and make a dated folder containing the originals.
    2. Gather the relevant emails, messages, meeting notes, accounts, notices and other evidence, then remove unrelated personal data before pasting extracts into a chatbot.
    3. Paste the documents and facts with the prompt, asking the model to cite each important point to a document or label it as an unverified account.
    4. Compare the generated chronology and stated positions against the original documents, correcting every wrong name, date, quotation and ownership figure.
    5. Send the list of missing information and solicitor questions to a UK solicitor, together with the source documents and the proposed communication.
    6. Ask the solicitor to assess any duties, contractual rights, procedural requirements and settlement terms before you make an offer, sign anything or send correspondence marked without prejudice.
    7. Use the checked factual summary to hold a meeting or mediation, record agreed actions in writing and have any final agreement reviewed before signing.

    Prompt

    Act as a careful drafting and analysis assistant, not a solicitor. This is a UK private-company shareholder dispute. Use only the facts and documents I provide, distinguish facts from assumptions, and do not invent legal rules, clauses, dates or evidence. Do not give a definitive view on who is legally right. Create: (1) a neutral chronology with document references, (2) each side's stated position, (3) the exact decisions or issues that need resolving, (4) missing information and questions for a UK solicitor, (5) practical options such as a without-prejudice discussion, mediation or solicitor-led correspondence, with risks and information needed for each, and (6) a calm draft message requesting a meeting without admissions or threats. Flag any proposed wording that could create legal, commercial or relationship risk. Do not suggest deleting, hiding or altering records. Do not treat this as legal advice. Here are the company details, shareholder agreement, articles, relevant board or shareholder resolutions, correspondence and my account: [paste only information you are permitted to share].

    Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

What it gets wrong

  • AI cannot decide which shareholder has the stronger legal position from incomplete documents and competing accounts.
  • AI cannot replace a solicitor’s assessment of directors’ duties, the articles, the shareholder agreement or the correct procedure.
  • AI cannot judge whether a proposed concession will damage your negotiating position or the company’s future.
  • AI cannot obtain confidential company records, test witness credibility or make the other shareholder negotiate.
  • AI cannot carry the liability for a letter, filing, settlement or missed deadline.

What caps this at PARTLY: legal accountability, judgement under ambiguity and stakes of error.

How we scored this

Five axes, each scored nought to two by hand: ten means AI carries the task cleanly, and the thresholds that turn a total into YES, PARTLY or NO are published in the methodology. Each axis name links to its definition.

AxisScore (0–2)
Output2
Inputs1
Verification1
Liability0
Effort delta1
Total5 / 10

The methodology and its thresholds are published in full.

FAQ

Can ChatGPT resolve a shareholder dispute?
Partly. It can organise documents, build a chronology and draft a neutral request for discussion, but it cannot decide the legal position or make the other shareholder agree. A serious dispute needs a UK solicitor to assess the documents and strategy.
Can AI tell me who is right in a shareholder dispute?
No, not reliably. It can compare each side’s account with the documents you provide, but legal rights may depend on missing facts, the articles, the shareholder agreement and procedure. This is not professional advice.
Can AI write a letter to my fellow shareholder?
Yes, it can produce a measured draft based on your documents and instructions. Have a UK solicitor check it before sending, especially if it makes allegations, proposes a settlement or is intended to be without prejudice.
Should I use AI before speaking to a solicitor about a shareholder dispute?
You can use it to prepare a factual chronology, organise evidence and list questions, provided you protect confidential information and check every reference against the originals. Do not use its draft as a substitute for advice, and do not sign or send a settlement without solicitor review.

Nearby answers

All Disputes rulings

Assessed by gpt-5.6-luna (gpt-5.6-luna) on 2026-08-13, second-checked by an independent model. Wrong somewhere? Email [email protected] and it gets re-checked.

The newsletter

AI news, new answers and product picks, straight to your inbox.