There are often many types of recurring patterns that you see in these business break ups. One of the most common is that there is a partner that is investing or owns the majority of the capital and another partner that is the talent and does most of the work.
For instance, partner X had started the business many years ago and sometime along the way hired partner 
Y as an employee. Partner Y was very talented and with his involvement the business began to grow significantly. Partner X and eventually made partner Y a 10% partner and over time partner X and partner Y would become 50/50 partners. Their overall business relationship consisted of multiple LLC and LPs.
There was a time when Partner X and Partner Y got along great, but over time that relationship deteriorated. Neither one wanted to work with the other, but their corporate documents did not provide for an adequate way to divide up the business and move on.
Probably the most important piece of advice I could offer is to retain your own individual counsel when formulating the partnership agreement. First of all, obviously an attorney can help offer insight on the legal ramifications of the partnership agreement. But also, again many of the conversations that you must have with your fellow partners when forming a business are awkward and uncomfortable. Attorneys can better work through these scenarios so that in the event things do go south, there will be a fair and adequate termination plan in place.
