@PeterM Right. But then what? At that point, he either has the capital for a lawsuit or he doesn't. If he doesn't, that's life. But what if today he doesn't ensure that he owns the IP? Then even if he will have capital at that future point, he'll have nothing.

This question will likely be closed as off-topic. A bit of human advice first: Take a deep breath, there is nothing in your story that can't be fixed. You probably will lose your current job at some point but your life will go on. Find someone to review your resume, and just keep trying. You will find a job, maybe not your dream job, and if you do well at that job your life will start looking up too.

@MENG These are very simple contracts, and so also aren't very expensive to draft. I still don't know what country you're living in, but ask around your campus and someone might be able to point you to an affordable local resource.

@TymoteuszPaul You're assuming that OP will need to finance the IP theft case now. If his start-up succeeds, he'll supposedly have the necessary capital by the time it's relevant (and if it fails, who cares about the IP).

I don't know about all countries, but in Europe and the US, you should always sign a contract. Even for a startup. Without a contract, you will be exposed to many liabilities, the most common one is exactly what you fear - that the students will claim that the intellectual property is partially theirs. If you can't afford a lawyer (it might be cheaper than you think), you should at least find a sample contract from your country that seems relevant. Make sure that it addresses IP ownership. It's better than no contract at all.

Do you have a lawyer to assist you with drafting employment/contracting contracts? IP and patent ownership should be addressed in the contracts that are signed between the company and its employees/contractors.

@electronpusher Your addendum is very mature, and shows respect to both the company and your fiancee. You are now thinking about this in the right way, and I'm sure you'll find the right course of action.

@Anthony Can you clarify your statement? I'm only familiar with the US, but anti-nepotism laws don't apply to private companies. There are many family businesses that are based on hiring family members. Even having several family members as employees in the same company, for companies both small and large, isn't that rare. It is usually an HR concern not to have spouses or siblings working in the same team (or worse: with supervision authority) as it can cause interpersonal issues, but it's up to the company to set its policy - it sounds like the owner business is willing to accept this risk.

Record for yourself (don't share the notes, so people can't "I'll read the summary instead of attending") instead of slowing down the meeting: amazon.com/s/…