In my mind, the single best part of being a business owner/founder is freedom. That includes the freedom to be compassionate. That's what is required here. You

In my mind, the single best part of being a business owner/founder is freedom. That includes the freedom to be compassionate. That's what is required here. Your startup is really insignificant compared to losing a loved one. I'm interested to know what he said when you communicated to him that the two of you find him uncooperative and that you feel he is holding you and the project up. This has the potential to make your team stronger. This a good example of an exception where this particular co-founder should come first over you, or the project. I don't think it's unreasonable to put a timeframe around this, so you don't enable and he doesn't exploit the situation. I think that's closer to the 12 month mark than the 4 month mark.