what makes a document (contract) legal binding?

[Yarg!]

can ijust type up a contract say to share some property , but if one of us fucks another one over, can i automatically take them to court? even tho i really have no legal authority, except their signatures on a peice of paper.

 

[mrplunkey]

can ijust type up a contract say to share some property , but if one of us fucks another one over, can i automatically take them to court? even tho i really have no legal authority, except their signatures on a peice of paper.

The biggest thing you should look for is "consideration" in a contract. If you type something up like this:

"My neighbor agrees to share the turn-around area in his driveway with me forever."

And both sign it, you don't have a valid contract. One reason it isn't valid (I think there are more) is because you haven't provided consideration -- both sides haven't given anything valuable. Also, since property is involved, you may want to register something with your local Land Office. It sounds like you want to give or exchange easements to your properties. By doing it with the Land Office, the easement will be recorded with both deeds and will be publicly recorded.

P.S. if you neighbor is sqeemish about linking something to his property permanently, you can always do an easement that doesn't survive transfer. Therefore, if you sell your property, the new buyer doesn't recieve the easement as well. That might keep your neighbor from thinking "I like this guy, but what if he sells his property to an asshole next?".

http://homebuying.about.com/cs/easementsrow/a/easement_faq.htm

 

[GoldenDelicious]

i would get in touch with your local tenancy board (or whatever its called where you are) because a couple of signatures wont cut it in court. no way.

 

[chewyxrage]

A verball agreement is a contract if it satisfies what Mr. Plunkey covered above.

 

[mrplunkey]

A verball agreement is a contract if it satisfies what Mr. Plunkey covered above.

Isn't there some scritiny of verbal agreements lasting more than a certain term (I thought it was a year) and over a certain dollar figure?

I remember some mnemonic they taught me in business school that spelled-out the criteria for verbal agreements. One of the letters stood for "Short" or "Term" and another letter stood for "Small" or "Low value" or something like that.