Getting Things In Writing
Business

Getting Things In Writing

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I was talking to this lawyer recently who was sharing his stories with me on how he has seen almost everything when it comes to people trying to lie their way out of some kind business agreement or money that has been taken from others as a result of the two parties not having a formal written agreement.

It was kind of interesting too as he started to tell me the type of “profile” he would expect from the person who wasn’t telling the truth. I told him briefly about a situation I experienced and he immediately tells me something along the lines of “Let me guess, to others the guy dresses in nice clothes, he is soft spoken and his strategy was to act like a victim with a dramatic story on how you were apparently taking advantage of him correct?”

I was impressed and told him “You pretty much nailed it”. He then further expressed how unfortunately we sometimes have to learn the hard way and that some people will stop at nothing to try and get away from their business or financial obligations to you regardless of how long you have known the person for or how well you think you know them.

Speaking from experience, that is so true. It’s almost like the concept of people who steal I guess where if there is a chance they think they can get away with it, just that thought may be enough to entice them to do so. Therefore, if you ever enter into a business agreement or loan money to anyone regardless if it is say your childhood friend or family member, always get it down in writing to protect yourself and to discourage any thoughts that one can easily break their agreement with you.

7 Comments

  • Adrian Roundabout 7/30/2008

    I’ve seen it a million times, you must always get things in writing. A verbal contract is not a contract. It should be the number one rule in business.

  • Alan Yu 7/30/2008

    Well, except for certain things a verbal contract is just as good legally. You just have to work way harder to prove it as the person is probably going to deny everything. Example, if you had e-mail records of this then that could work to prove that you had an agreement.

    I’m not a lawyer of course and am just speaking from experience.

  • Adrian Roundabout 7/31/2008

    I’m sorry, but you cannot ever prove a verbal contract. It’s one person’s word against the other.

  • Alan Yu 7/31/2008

    Adrian,

    That is absolutely not the case. Example, let’s say we were friends and you told me that for $500 you are going to make me a new fence. Because of our friendship I didn’t get you to sign anything as I trusted your word.

    Weeks go by and you do nothing. I then send you say e-mails asking what is going on as I am getting a little annoyed as I gave you the money already and you haven’t fulfilled your end of the bargain. You reply to it stating you will get to it as you are just busy at the moment.

    Weeks pass by and then let’s pretend we hate each other’s guts now for whatever reason and so because you didn’t do anything I want my money back. You then try to scam me by telling me that since we didn’t sign anything that you can simply say that you never agreed to anything and that the money I gave you was say a gift.

    However, if I took you to court that e-mail evidence will stand as in this case a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one. Again, it just takes way more effort to prove because as you mentioned it is mostly one person’s word against the other.

  • Adrian Roundabout 7/31/2008

    If you gave me $500 cash to me to build a fence then you have not protected yourself. If you gave me a cheque then you have some proof of payment for a service.

    An email is not the same as a signed piece of paper. How can you prove where the email came from? How can you prove it hasn’t been altered?

    I think the lesson to be learned is to always get things in writing, that way there’s absolutely chance of getting burned.

  • Alan Yu 7/31/2008

    Oh, I definitely agree with the notion that you should always get things signed for protection. That was the point of this post right? :mrgreen:

    I was just trying to make the point though that a verbal agreement from a legal point of view still stands except for certain types of transactions. You just have one heck of a battle unless you have substantial proof of it as opposed to having a signed agreement.

    Without getting too technical there are a lot of information that e-mails can tell you and ways to determine its legitimacy. I call them digital fingerprints personally. Most average people just never bother to look at them since all they care about is the message itself.

    But basically, the e-mail is not say the “signature” as if you two signed a document in terms of protection, but rather think of the e-mail as your “witness” or “proof” to the agreement which is what you have to do unfortunately in a “He said, She said” battle.

    Yes, always get things in writing, but if you were one of those people that have been conned by someone who is backing out of their agreements with you, like what I experienced, there is something you can do about it.

  • Stewart 8/1/2008

    imho a verbal contract is a contract.

    More importantly if the two of you were in front of a judge, emails, notes made at the time can be presented. The judge will consider the arguments both parties make. The judge will decide who he believes perhaps by asking questions based on what he is being told.

    If the man is a charlatan of course he/she will likely fabricate their side of the story. If they are better at than you, they may will get the court to decide in their favour.

    I’m sure there is some distant case where a verbal contract was upheld, but really it’s a moot point.

    Getting things in writing will certainly help, ensuring there are witnesses is better. However, none of this makes things certain.

    It’s a bit like how I feel about all the increased border security the US has. I like to feel it makes a difference but …

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