Written contracts are better than good intentions

To paraphrase a bit course but well-known sayingThe road to business success is paved with good intentions“. Every person I have met in my practice intends to succeed, to get along with everyone else in the business and all of the customers and competitors. We all know that reality is often an obstacle to fulfilling the good intentions.

Even better than good intentions is having a written contract to document your business relationship. Let me give you a couple of reasons:

1. A written contract provides the forum for both parties to share their “intentions” prior to the start of the relationship; once the intentions are on the table, you can discuss, debate and hopefully ultimately agree on the key points.

2. A written contract protects from someone with bad but yet to be disclosed intentions.

3. A written contract lays out how to end the relationship, usually without a lot of acrimony and without time in court.

 

—–>>> How would I sum this all up? Keep your good intentions and put them into practice, just augment your good intentions with a solid written agreement.

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."