How to Make a Contract Legal
- 1). Make an offer to exchange money for something of value; make an offer to exchange something of value for money; or make an offer to exchange something of value for another thing of value. The offer has to be made to a person who has the ability to legally enter into a contract, otherwise any contract made could be deemed void or voidable. The other party must be competent, which means the person must be at least 18 years of age and have the mental capacity to enter into a contract.
- 2). Gain acceptance. Not only does the other party need to have the ability to enter into a contract, the other party needs to accept the offer as it has been made. If the other party wants to change the terms of the offer that has been made, he will need to make a counter offer. A counter offer is not an acceptance of the contract.
- 3). Exchange consideration. To make a contract legal, something has to be exchanged. Consideration usually takes the form of money, property or services, according to Lawyers.com. If consideration has been exchanged on either side, the contract becomes legal and binding.
In the college student example, if the student gives the handbag to her roommate, expecting to receive the heels in return, consideration has been exchanged. Her roommate would now be bound by the contract. If the roommate does not give the heels to the student in exchange for the handbag, she will be in breach of contract. If the contract is breached, the student can either take legal action against her roommate or take her handbag back, because the roommate did not follow through on the terms of the contract. - 4). Put it in writing. To prevent any problems with the contract in the future, it should be formally written. To start, name both parties to the contract. Then state that both parties are entering into an agreement. Start a new section stating the consideration to be exchanged. For example, "In exchange for a designer handbag, Roommate 2 agrees to give Roommate 1 a pair of designer heels." In the next section, include any other agreed-upon terms, such as what happens in the case the contract is broken. Finally, both parties must sign and date the contract.