A contract is an official statement that outlines the obligations of two or more parties to fulfill (or not fulfill) particular duties. In simple terms, it’s an exchange of promises backed by the law. If one of the signers fails to deliver according to the terms, the contract is considered breached. The parties can resolve the breach among themselves or in the courtroom.

There are different types of contracts, depending on the scope and nature. They can be written or verbal. Both types are legally binding, provided that all contract drafting and sealing requirements are met. However, verbal contracts are usually more challenging to enforce in court.

What makes a contract valid?

For the contractual obligations to be enforceable by law, it’s required that:

Legal capacity: all parties involved must be legally capable of signing a contract, meaning they must be in sound mind and of appropriate age.
Mutual assent: all parties involved must show mutual consent to the agreement’s terms.
Adequate consideration: refers to a price (in any form) equal in value to what has been offered.
Jurisdictional nuances: the contract must meet the requirements of the state-specific contract law.

What do I need to pay attention to before I sign a contract?

Check the spelling of each party’s legal name.
Use plain language, spell out your expectations clearly, and don’t use ambiguous terms.
Include all the needed clauses to end the contract peacefully.
Spell out how you would like to resolve disputes if any occur in the future (between parties, in court, or through arbitration).
Indicate who will be responsible for settling the payment for the dispute resolution proceedings.
Go over all “what if” scenarios to anticipate potential risks and issues.
Make sure there are no terms or wording you don’t understand. If there are any, provide definitions to avoid misinterpretation in the future.
Double-check the payment terms.
Mind the correct currency and date formats. The US and the European date formats differ significantly and, if misspelled, might lead to severe consequences.

What makes an online contract legally binding?

Most often, contract drafting, negotiating, and sending happens online. That is why it makes sense to switch to online contract signing. With eSignature solutions, once all parties have certified an agreement, it becomes enforceable by law. However, the legality of online contracts has specific nuances as it involves eSignature. The usage of eSignature is regulated by country and depends on local and federal laws. Compliance with ESIGN, UETA, and eIDAS is what makes an eSignature tool binding as a market standard. signNow offers security features to ensure an eSignature is valid and court-admissible. These features include two-step authentication, industry-leading security standards, detailed audit trail, and document tamper-proofing.

Is there any way to automate the online contract signature workflow?

It’s essential to have your contract management automated if you want to keep up with the speed of your business. When negotiating and redlining a contract, you want to ensure that every party will receive, execute, and sign the document on time and in the correct order. With signNow, you no longer need to manually print, scan, copy, fax, mail, file, and store paper. Our solution lets you set up role-based consequential signing orders, create reminders, send out bulk signing invites, and connect to the apps you already use. In addition, it has a feature-rich document editor that lets you create interactive documents with fillable fields in just minutes. Automating each step of contract execution will help you minimize document turnaround times.

Is it safe to Sign eContract online with signNow?

When it comes to safeguarding user data and privacy online, signNow follows industry best practices, such as HIPPA, CCPA, and GDPR. signNow also meets compliance standards like SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS. signNow’s data protection features include two-factor authentication and 256-bit encryption. All activities performed on your document are tracked by the detailed and court-admissible Audit Trail. Feel confident that your data is safe and secure with signNow.

Can I reuse a contract form in signNow?

If you have a document you use repeatedly, you can use the Templates feature available in signNow. To make a reusable template, upload a form, create and add fillable fields, dropdown lists, checkboxes, and signature blocks. signNow makes it easy to generate fillable forms, saving you time and effort. The best part is that you can send them for signing right from your dashboard.

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