Most people enter into a contract with good intentions, and hope that it will all work out as planned. But unfortunately, even with risks considered and precautions taken, disputes between parties can happen. There are many reasons why a contract may fall through, such as breach of duty, non-compliance, contract error or omission, negligence, failure to fulfill terms, and more. When one or more parties do not agree on the definitions, responsibilities, and conditions contained in a contract, it may be contested in court. The parties may attempt to resolve the issue amongst themselves, but when that is not possible, they may have to attend court over the matter instead.
The agreement wasn’t well written from the start.
Ideally, it’s best to have a lawyer help you devise a contract, or at least review it before all parties provide a signature. Otherwise, you could find yourself with a contract that causes plenty of problems, and actually becomes unenforceable. For instance, you may have a contract that uses too vague of language, to where it’s not possible to tell who is responsible for what. A contract that leaves too much room for interpretation can cause the parties to not fully understand what their terms are in the agreement. It also makes it easier for one party to avoid holding up their end of the bargain by developing excuses because of the contract inclarity.
Someone breached their end of the contract.
Despite everyone having the best of intentions at the start of a contract creation, people breach their terms all the time, and they may not come forward and admit it outright. This can leave the other parties in the contract trying to demonstrate where, how, and when a contract was breached. A party may not realize that they have broken the contract, but in other cases, the breach is willful and intentional. EIther way, there’s not much that can be done besides fighting over the breach if one party is set on being uncooperative, in which a dispute ultimately begins.
A non-written agreement was made.
Depending on the state you live in, you can create an implied or verbal contract. Sometimes you may not realize that an implication of an agreement was made, even if you did not acknowledge that there is one. For instance, maybe you sent emails back and forth between you and another party. This can create an implied contract due to the pattern of dealings that was exchanged in the conversation. If one party ignores this agreement or breaches their side, then it has to be proven that a contract, albeit unwritten, existed. As a contract dispute lawyer residents trust at Eric Lindh Foster Law, LLC explains, not all verbal or implied agreements are enforceable, but this is an issue that is best handled with guidance from a lawyer.
