Domain contact information question..

[draggar]

As we all know there are 4 contacts for any domain registration. My wife asked me how to make her and someone else a 50/50 "owner" of the domain and I'm trying to figure out the safest way to do this.

Registrant - this needs to be me since the domain is in my account, correct?

Administrative Contact -

Billing Contact - I'm assuming this is for who pays for it?

Technical Contact - This is for whoever manages the site?

What are the other 3 for (I've never done something like this before)? What would be the safest ones to put her friend as to avoid any "legal" issues that might come up?

[INFORG]

Domain contacts really aren't the proper place to try and divide ownership. Whoever controls the account and the email address associated with the registrant - controls the domain.

Best bet is to set up a corporation with 50/50 ownership and maintain the registration under the corporation. If you don't want that level of business yet, you can just create a simple written contract/agreement to address business assets and ownership.

[draggar]

Best bet is to set up a corporation with 50/50 ownership and maintain the registration under the corporation. If you don't want that level of business yet, you can just create a simple written contract/agreement to address business assets and ownership.

Too much work and I don't trust the "other person" at all - I'd rather keep control of the domain. I'm sure she (the other person) would be OK with having her name as one of the contacts. Maybe I'll make her the administrative contact and then make whoever runs the site the technical contact (who will most likely be her boyfriend).

[JB Lions]

Based on your other post, transfer the name to your wife/or her friend and don't get involved in it.

[realtimeregister]

Draggar,

Registrant is the actual owner of the domain. During a transfer the registrant/owner can accept or decline the transfer.

Admin contact : During a transfer the admin contact can accept or decline the transfer. However if the Registrant agrees and the Admin C declines the Registrant will overrule the Admin C.
So you could setup your wife as registrant and the other person as admin. Incase your wife would transfer the domain the admin wouldbe notified. Not much he or she can do about it being the Admin C... But hey, least he/she knows about it

[Domagon]

The registrant is owns the domain, except in instances in which the registrant listed is ambiguous (ie. contains name of one's webhosting company or whois privacy service)...

So simply put in both names ...

Jane Doe and John Smith
-or-
Jane Doe and John Smith Partnership

To be clear, the registrant will be considered as being one entity by both the registrar and by the courts.

So if there are any concerns about the other person stealing the domain / doing something bad, consult an attorney for advice on how to structure ownership, such as forming a corporation. And since you indicate one of the parties is your wife, you may be potentially liable too even if you have nothing to do with the domain.

If your concern is limited to the other person stealing / misconfiguring the domain, then simply keeping the domain in your domain account with yourself listed as the admin contact may be sufficient. However, if your concerns go beyond that, then consult an experienced business attorney on how to structure a separate entity to reduce your liability exposure.

Ron