Verbal Contracts

[patybear]

What is the name of your state? New York.
Someone recently told me that in the state of New York,verbal contracts
are not valid in court.Frankly,I think this kid was full of bull puckey.
(F.Y.I.-the person who told me the above said he's been working for a law firm for the past two years.In my humble opinion,this kid needs to find a better law firm to work for.)can anyone speak to this issue?Thanks.
patybear

[divgradcurl]

Originally Posted by patybear

What is the name of your state? New York.
Someone recently told me that in the state of New York,verbal contracts
are not valid in court.Frankly,I think this kid was full of bull puckey.
(F.Y.I.-the person who told me the above said he's been working for a law firm for the past two years.In my humble opinion,this kid needs to find a better law firm to work for.)can anyone speak to this issue?Thanks.
patybear

Verbal contracts are generally valid and enforceable -- however, from a practical standpoint, it can be very difficult to prove the existance and substance of a verbal contract in court. If you are trying to enforce a verbal contract in court, and all the evidence you have is your testimony, unless the other party admits it, you are sunk.

[shortbus]

well ... if the other party doesn't admit it, it's certainly more difficult. But the burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence, ie. more than 50%.

If it's your word vs. theirs, it's 50/50. If you can present just a little more evidence -- you have written notes, someone else witnessed the conversation -- then you can still win, even if the other party testifies the opposite.

Also, there is a class of transactions (e.g. real estate) for which verbal contracts are never valid.