The Form Contract: An Ounce Of Prevention

Understanding the importance of a written contract is a good first step. What should be in that contract? Contracts serve to record the business agreement. To do this, they require the proper names of the parties, what is being bought or provided, and the price. They need to be signed. Almost every other term can be filled in by standard business terms in the uniform commercial code.

Contracts also serve to allocate risks between the parties. To do this, there are provisions on how to terminate a contract, what specifications are expected of the product or to what standards the services are provided, when one party should pay for the damage to the other party and other ways to limit liability in cases of weather or other unforeseen events. Think about what might go wrong and how you can protect yourself. It is worth a few bucks now to get a good contract in place.