Duration is not an essential element for the establishment of partnerships. The parties may also expressly agree on indefinite duration.
When a date of termination is envisaged, then on that date the company can be dissolved.
The termination date may be modified or eliminated by the partners via:
- express extension. In this case all the partners expressly decide on a new date of termination or on continuing the company’s life indefinitely;
- tacit extension. If, after the date of termination the partners continue to do business as usual, then the company is tacitly extended for an indefinite period of time.
Duration of companies limited by shares
Also companies limited by shares can have indefinite life, but in such case all the shareholders have the right of withdrawing: hence this is a choice that is to be adopted with caution, since the possibility of withdrawing is a major cause of instability.