Article: To sue someone for breach of contract, you must first prove that the contract existed and was valid.   While the word “contract” generally refers to a written document, a writing is not always necessary to create a contract. A contract may be written or oral.  For example, if the parties agree to a contract with the intention of writing it down later, a contract is created even if the parties never actually write it down. If you have an oral contract, you may present evidence of that contract to the court to prove that you had an agreement with the other party. Oral contracts, however, may be difficult to prove. Some contracts must be in writing.  The Statute of Frauds dictates which contracts must be in writing to be valid. Examples of contracts that must be in writing include contracts for: The sale of real estate or land Goods valued over $500 Paying another person's debt Marriage Agreements that will last longer than one year Transferring property after a death Breach of the contract occurs when a party who owes something under the contract fails to provide that good or service. This failure must be severe to be considered a breach. For instance, if you hired a contractor to paint your house, he would not breach the contract by showing up late, but would breach the contract by never showing up at all. All states have statutes of limitations. These are laws provide the time limit for filing a suit.  The statutes vary based on your state as well as the circumstances of your case, the type of case, and whether you filed your claim in federal or state court.  All of these factors will change the deadline for filing suit. The deadline for filing a civil suit, such as breach of contract, is generally between 2 and 6 years. Specific information on your state’s statute of limitations for a contract claim can be found online.  The time begins to run once you realize the contract has been breached. The law requires that a breach be serious and that it caused damages before a party may sue for breach of contract. Damages must be in the form of lost money.  For example, imagine you are a painter and you make a contract to paint someone's house for $10,000, payable on completion. When you finish painting the house, the owner doesn't have the money. He pays you two days later. You will not usually have any damages from the delay. He still received a completely painted house and you still received $10,000, even if you did receive it a couple days later than you expected. Such minor differences from the contract agreement are not usually enough for a lawsuit. On the other hand, if you painted the house but the owner never paid you at all, you lost $10,000 worth of time and paint. This would be considered a material breach. Make sure that you keep records of any financial damages that you may have. Calculate any money that you have lost and any other negative effects you have suffered from the breach of contract. For example, even if you didn’t directly lose money as a result of the breach, you can claim damages if you lost some other benefit that had a monetary value, such as a job.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Determine whether you have a valid contract. Determine whether a breach of contract has occurred. Determine whether you are within the statute of limitations. Determine if the breach is material and caused damages. Keep track of all damages.