Can You Make a Contract Legally Without a Lawyer?
- Every state has its own requirements; however, the general components of an enforceable contract are offer, acceptance and consideration. If you want to initiate a contract's formation, you must express that intent to the party you're interested in contracting with. This act is the offer. That person must accept your offer. Without that acceptance, there is no contract. Also, there must be an exchange of value. The value may be money or simply a promise. This exchange is referred to as consideration. So, for instance, if your neighbor accepts your offer to cut his grass in exchange for his promise to wash your car, you have a contract.
- Some contracts must be in writing before a court will enforce them. A law called the "statute of frauds" imposes this requirement and lists several types of agreements that must be in writing. Contracts concerning real estate are one example. You generally must place all agreements to buy or sell real estate in writing if you want a court to enforce it. Another example is a contract to sell goods valued at $500 or more. Based on the statue of frauds, the court might enforce an oral contract to sell goods for $499, but not one where the goods are worth $500.
- Some contracts are unenforceable regardless of whether they are in writing. For instance, you can't enforce a contract that does something illegal. The reasons are obvious; imagine asking a court to enforce the contract you have with a hit man to harm someone. Another example of an unenforceable contract is one entered into with a person lacking the capacity to contract. You may not, for instance, enforce a contract against a person who was mentally incompetent when he entered into the contract.
- You don't need a lawyer to form a legally enforceable contract. However, having a lawyer draft and review your contract in the beginning could save you thousands of dollars down the line. An experienced attorney can foresee issues you may not consider when you're blinded by the excitement of closing a business deal or having a project completed. An attorney can help ensure your contract addresses, among other things, and will bear the risk if things don't go as planned. Leaving issues out of your contract means potentially spending hours, days or months in court trying to establish how the court should resolve those issues.