Do I have the legal rights to just make up a terms and conditions of service for my company? I have made one up but do i need to get it verified by the law or can i just go with it? Thank You -James I am dealing with $1000 and up per client and I belive I need a legal contract now as my business has become way too big.
I'm not an expert on American law but I think it's safe to say that yes you can create your own terms & conditions. All they are is a set of rules of how you'd like to do business. I'd say it's only illegal if your terms themselves contravene regular contract law. However, the objective of a set of terms is to avoid any ambiguity in the interpretation of what you're expected to provide and ultimately protect you from a sour customer. To this end self written terms are better then nothing but likely to be full of holes and subject to being torn apart by any decent solicitor/lawyer. Of course by then it's too late. On the other hand having a set of terms and conditions drawn up is a huge burden to any start up and not worth it for many. What kind of business are you in? If it's an anyway regular business (i.e hosting, web design, cleaning, selling cars etc) then the chances are there is an off-the-shelf set of contracts available to buy online. This can be very cost effective and while not quite as good as having ones written from scratch will still offer you far more protection then something you write yourself.
As long as you and the person accepting your terms of service is over the age of 18, it is a legally binding contract. However, if you get a minor to sign up, it is voidable by United States law.
Hi, thought i would say this, there are many T's and C's on the net that you can download already pre-written and legally safe. Be very carefull when writing your own, if you get into problems later on down the line i.e. someone suing you, your Ts and Cs may not have been as legally tight as you first thought. Im not sure what industry your in but if you are determined to write them your self make sure you take a look at the Ts and Cs of big big companies that have spent alot of money on lawyers to get them right. Although copying them is obvoisuly strictly a no no since you maybe liable for copyright infringement it will at least give you a good idea on how a good tight Terms and Conditions is written. Hope that helps