Get It In Writing

Several years ago I sat in a courtroom waiting my turn to argue a case. The case before mine was an ugly swearing match between two relatives over a water line which crossed one of their properties to reach the land of the other. The line had been put in by their grandparents decades ago, but now one of the grandchildren was unwilling to continue allowing the other relative to receive water through the line.

Unfortunately, there was no written agreement that would have made it easy to determine what the rights and duties of both parties were. Instead, they each testified to a completely different set of facts. This happens very often: two parties to an agreement have completely different memories of what happened many years ago. They have to put their case into the hands of a judge who has to decide what to do. Both sides can walk away unhappy.

I’m often asked if a person can have an agreement that has not been written down and signed. The answer is that you can sometimes have a valid agreement without putting it in writing. For example, if I ask a young man how much he charges to cut grass and I ask him to cut my grass, I’m going to owe him the amount he quoted for the work he does. 

For simple agreements between friends and relatives that don’t involve large amounts of money or valuable items, this may be just fine. The important questions are: When do I need to get an agreement in writing – and does it need to be a formal legal contract?

The best advice is to at the very least, always write down an agreement and have both parties sign it in the presence of a notary public.  If you sign two copies, then each party can keep a copy for future use. 

But when do you need the help of a lawyer to prepare a contract? 

If the agreement involves something complex or expensive – such as the water line in the case I witnessed – you should ask an attorney to review your agreement before the parties sign it to make sure the language in it won’t cause you trouble later. Those agreements are simply too important to risk losing your rights or having a conflict over the duties of the other party.

You will definitely need to have a lawyer write the agreement if you expect it to last for over a year or the value of the contract is more than a few hundred dollars. 

The reason you need a good attorney to write the contract for you is that sometimes you will end up in an argument regardless of how cooperative both parties are in the beginning. A good attorney knows how to write the contract in a way that is understood and accepted by the courts. If the wording in the contract is legally proper, not only are you more likely to win if you land in court, but your lawyer may be able to convince the other party that there is no reason to go to court because they can’t win.

If you can avoid going to court to settle a disagreement, you may have saved yourself a lot of time, money and heartache. And your next family reunion could be a lot more pleasant.