I have seen a few partnerships work 2 out of I have no idea how many since 67. They are both husband wife teams, in one she does ceramic, wax up, billing, material ordering, he does model, casting, metal finish & deliveries. in the other she does set-up, wax up, shaping, billing & deliveries, he does articulation, tooth & supplies order, processing, polishing, TMJ appliances, & some deliveries. Notice they are away fro ea other during deliveries strangely that is when one or the other calls and chats with me. There is another husband wife team that are still married but they closed the lab and He went into sales, she went into teaching grade-school.
I talked with a DDS this morning as he had done what you are suggesting it lasted for 2 years before problems, and around 3 years (when he started talking with outside labs) then he kicked the partner/employee out they were both men. I remember a DDS who set up a female technician but that wound up in a divorce, practice broken, DDS working for other DDS & technician without work, also divorced & I haven't heard from her in 15 years. I like the idea of having everything on paper, I've never had a partner and employees only for a few years, maybe I'm as Tim said "to dam picky". The advice from affinity would work for me, I don't like deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth to get what I want. Put it up front and have an exit strategy that both can see, and know that a falling out is common. The money person gets to do the loudest talking while whispering. I tend to associate with small labs, a large lab could be a great situation for a partnership, corp, ltd situation, I have worked for some but know not much beyond my experience with the IDLA or the MAC convention in the 80's. bobcdt.