Legal Documents andFiling Systems

Contracts & Agreements

A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties to do or not to do something.

Common legal contracts includecredit plansmortgagesrental agreements

Express agreements can be oral or written; what makes them express is that the terms have been agreed upon between the parties in words.

Be sure you read everything contained in an agreement before you sign it.

Implied agreement – unwritten agreement

Example: When you drive your car you agree to obey traffic laws, drive in a safe and responsible manner, and observe rights of others.

Elements of Enforceable Contract

Agreement

A contract has mutual assent when an offer is made and accepted.

If a person makes an offer and the other person changes it, he has made a counteroffer. The counteroffer is now a new offer and can be accepted or rejected.

ConsiderationConsideration is anything of value exchanged as part of a contract. It may be an object of value, money, a promise, or a performed service.

Contractual CapacityA person must be competent to enter into a contract.

A person cannot be a minor (under 18).

A person cannot have a mental deficiency or illness.

LegalityTo be enforceable, contract must be lawful. Without a lawful object, the agreement has no binding effect on a person.

Genuine AssentA person cannot use misrepresentation, a mistake, duress, or undue influence to force another to enter a contract.

Misrepresentation is called fraud and contains:

1) misrepresentation of a material fact with

2) the intention to deceive;

3) The innocent party has justifiably relied on this misrepresented fact and

4) has been injured (damaged) as a result.

Duress is the use of force or fear to make a person enter into a contract.

Undue influence arises from special relationships (such as guardianship) in which one party’s free will is overcome by the other.

Negotiable Instruments

Negotiable Instruments – an unconditional written promise to pay a specified sum of money upon demand of the holder.

Example: Checks and promissory notes.

Negotiable instrument is legally collectible if the following conditions are met:

• It must be in writing (not oral) and signed by the maker.

• It must contain an unconditional promise to pay a definite amount of money.

• It must be payable on demand or on a fixed future date.

• It must be payable to the order of a particular person.

• It must be delivered to the payee.

Filing System for Personal Records

Filing system includes folders and labels and a file cabinet.

Have folders for different categories. Name folders with a descriptive word or short phrase that tells you immediately what records it contains.

File folders alphabetically.

Automobile

Entertainment

Household

Insurance

Medical

Taxes

Travel

Utilities

Automobile

Others:

Subscriptions, Warranties,

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Electronic Record Keeping You may use home computer and spreadsheet software program (Microsoft Excel) to help keep records.

Spreadsheet software organizes data in columns and rows and can perform calculations using the data.Database organizes data for easy search and retrieval. (Microsoft Access)

That’s All Folks!