A contract in California is an agreement about anything of value between two or more parties who intend the agreement to have legal effect. It may be oral or written, as long as all parties agree to the contractual terms. The reliability of written contracts typically make them the preferred means for businesses to transact. Since the intent of a contract is to be legally effective, they are best formed by those who understand the law.

Negotiating a Contract in Butte County

Negotiation of each specific term in a contract is important to ensure that the intent of each party is met. Also, there are certain clauses that should be included in every Butte County contract to give it the desired legal effect. Stating your intentions clearly at the start of negotiations is helpful, since then the parties may carefully detail the obligations and duties of the contract based on mutual expectations. Also, you may want to negotiate a process that can be followed should one party not fulfill its end of the contract.

Using a Form Contract

It may save you time to use a form contract instead of drafting your own. Even so, you may want an attorney in Butte County, California to add or remove terms, or to simply make the contract language more clear. There are risks in using form contracts without the help of an attorney. First, using a form contract makes it more likely that one of the parties will not have understood the terms. This can lead to them being unaware of their duties under the contract. Second, the difficult language used in the field of contracts can make agreements written by others hard to understand. An attorney can ensure that a written contract matches the intent of the parties, both with form contracts and in negotiations. In Butte County, many Attorneys specialize in California contract law.