Is a modest budget really enough to handle a case this complex?

A modest budget is genuinely sufficient to accomplish a specific, meaningful first step: getting your complaint properly drafted, formally filed with the court, and legally served on your partner, which by itself produces a real case number, a formally served defendant who now must respond, and genuine negotiating leverage that didn't exist before filing.

What a modest budget is not sufficient to accomplish is carrying a genuinely, fully contested case all the way through the discovery process and trial, which for a partnership dispute of this complexity typically involves forensic accounting, depositions, and extensive document review. If your partner responds to the complaint and the case becomes genuinely and actively litigated rather than settling, budgeting for actual legal representation from that point forward is a realistic and necessary expectation, not an optional upgrade.