Contract Law Attorney -- When Breaking Contract is Legal

The word contract seems to intimidate most, and for the most part such documents are binding, but there are some valid and legal circumstances that allow contracts to be broken.

A contract law attorney will recognize the following as legitimate reasons to legally break a contract or declare it con contractual:

Statue of Frauds: Many terms are thrown around amid contract negotiations. What is a verbal contract? What is a written contract? When is each one necessary? Most usually a lease or agreement with a term longer than a year requires written documentation. A contract law attorney can easily help to break a verbal agreement meant to bind for more than twelve months.

Duress: If you are made or forced into signing a contractual agreement, you may fall under a duress clause. Even though you signed and agreed the terms at hand, if you were forced into agreement in any way, you may have proof that you were pushed into the agreement. A drastic example would be if you were forced at gunpoint to agree. Other less extreme circumstances exist. Perhaps the agreeing party felt threatened or that his family or business would be threatened if the contract was not agreed upon. If you sign or agree to any circumstances for safety life or reputation, you have made an agreement under duress, and it is not binding.

Fraud and misinterpretation: Fraud is kind of an overused term generally used as an umbrella statement for any kind of wrong doing. However, fraudulent agreements really entail one party's deliberate misrepresentation of a situation. Misinterpreted contracts are also not binding even. If either party even innocently misunderstands the circumstances surrounding a contract, it can be broken under a misinterpretation clause. The help and expertise of a law attorney is always suggested in order to proceed legally.

Bilateral mistake: In the event that one party makes a mistake in interpreting or accepting the contract, it is sometimes difficult to void, but if both parties are mistaken in some way about the confines of the agreement, then it can be determined that there was never a true agreement or a "meeting of the minds" voiding the contract.

A contract law attorney is skilled in the legalities and illegalities of binding and non-binding contracts. Rather than trying to prove or disprove the validity of an agreement, any party wishing to enter into a contract should consider counsel prior to making the agreement. Sometimes an agreement is binding under seemingly invalid circumstances, so it is always best to consult an attorney for guidance prior to signing or agreeing to anything contractual.

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