The importance of written contracts in New Zealand

weWhen clients come to us with a commercial dispute, the first thing I will ask them is whether they have a written contract.

Unfortunately, in our experience, it is very common for clients to have contracts that were not prepared by lawyers. Sometimes clients would write the contracts themselves, or they would download a template document from the internet, often from a country other than New Zealand.

The purpose of a written contract is to protect you when a dispute arises. If people are always reliable, then you wouldn’t need a contract at all. But people sometime takes break their promise, for that reason, you need a written contract to protect you.

However, when you sign a document which you’ve written or downloaded from the internet, there is a high chance that is will not be enforceable when a dispute arises. When that happens, then that signed document becomes a worthless piece of paper. If the document can’t be enforced in Court, then it is useless.

It is very expensive to try to resolve a dispute in Court if you don’t have good legal documents to protect your rights. On the other hand, if you have a well drafted contract in place, then the other party is less likely to default on their obligations, because they know they will lose in Court.

If you have any questions about preparing written contracts in New Zealand, speak to us at Capstone Law, and we would be happy to assist you.