My co-founder removed me from GitHub, the domain or the ad account. What now?

The short version

• Stay calm and stay legal. Do not log in to accounts you have no right to use and do not delete anything.
• Save evidence now: screenshots, exports, emails, commits, payment records.
• Ask in writing for a handover with a deadline.
• Platforms will not decide a founders' dispute. Their support usually only helps if you are still an admin.
• Get a lawyer if the accounts, code or money matter.

First 24 hours

1. Write down what you lost and what you still have. Domain, GitHub, hosting, email, Facebook Page, Meta business portfolio, ad accounts, LinkedIn Page, payments.
2. Check money leaving. Ad accounts and subscriptions may still bill your card. Review cards and remove ones you own from tools you no longer control.
3. Secure what is still yours. Change passwords and 2FA on accounts you own. Add a second admin wherever you still can.
4. Save evidence (see below) before anything else changes.
5. Do not retaliate. Locking them out, deleting repos or posting publicly can hurt your position and may be unlawful.

What proves you were a co-founder

Disputes are decided on evidence. Collect anything dated that shows you took part and paid:

• Money: receipts, card statements and invoices for the domain, hosting, tools and ads you paid for.
• Work: commit history, pull requests, design files, campaign reports, customer emails you sent.
• Agreement: messages where you agreed shares or roles, a signed agreement, a cap table, incorporation papers.
• Public record: your name on the website, pitch decks, press, investor emails, app store or ad account roles.
• Records kept while things were good: a shared ledger or a founder record confirmed by each founder from their own account is dated, hashed and checkable. It is evidence of what everyone entered and confirmed, not a contract.

Who owns what, in general

• If you have a company, the company usually owns the domain, accounts and code, and the dispute is about shares and director rights. Look at your shareholder agreement and company records first.
• If you have no company, in many countries two people running a business together can be treated as a partnership, with shared rights and shared liability. This varies a lot, so check locally.
• Code: the author usually owns the copyright unless there is an employment relationship or a written assignment to the project or company. Without one, who owns the code can be unclear.
• Domain: the registered owner at the registrar controls it. Registrars follow the registrant and do not settle founder disputes. Trademark dispute processes are for trademarks, not internal ownership.
• Facebook, Meta and LinkedIn: access follows admin roles on the Page and the business portfolio. A person who created them is often the only full admin. Support teams generally act on admin rights, not on who started the business.

A sensible order of steps

1. Ask in writing. A short, factual message: what you need handed over, by which date, and that you want to settle it fairly. Keep it free of insults.
2. Offer a middle path. A mediator, a clear exit with fair share, or a handover in exchange for a written release.
3. Talk to a lawyer about a formal letter. Many disputes end at this step.
4. Ask the platform only for what you are entitled to as an admin, with your proof of identity and role.
5. Court or arbitration is slow and costly. Some countries allow fast interim orders to stop assets being moved or deleted. A lawyer can tell you if that applies.

I am in a dispute with a co-founder over access to our shared project. I am not asking for legal advice, only to organise my facts.
Facts and notes: [PASTE NOTES, DATES, SCREENSHOT DESCRIPTIONS].
Country: [COUNTRY]. Company: [YES/NO]. Written agreement: [YES/NO].
1) Build a dated timeline of what happened, separating facts from my opinions.
2) List the evidence I have and the evidence I should still collect (payments, work done, agreements).
3) Draft a short, factual, polite message asking for a handover of [LIST ACCOUNTS] by [DATE].
4) List five questions to ask a lawyer in my country.
Do not suggest accessing any account I am not entitled to.

Stop it happening next time

• Give every account at least two full admins from day one.
• Put the Facebook Page, ad accounts, domain and hosting under a project email, not a personal one.
• Write a one-page founders agreement with shares, vesting and who hands over what.
• Run the access audit every few months.
• Keep a dated record of who paid what and who controls each account, confirmed by every founder.

Frequently asked questions

Tools that help

• Access audit: see what could be lost.
• What if my co-founder leaves? checklist.
• Equity split calculator for the shares conversation.
• Handover checklist for the exit.