It's common for contracts and agreements to require changes sooner or later. There are numerous reasons you may need to change a business agreement, and if you had to draft a new contract every time, it would be a tremendous waste of time.
Instead, you can change only the parts of the contract or agreement that are no longer valid with an Agreement Amendment. The amendment doesn't nullify the entire agreement, eliminating the need to create a new one, convene all the parties for signatures, and potentially notarize the signatures if necessary.
An Agreement Amendment is a legally-binding document allowing the parties of an existing contract to change the contract's terms without drafting an entirely new document. A single agreement amendment can make several changes to a current agreement, as long as the deal isn't substantively changed to the degree that it fails to reflect its original purpose.
If you want to make substantive changes to the original document's structure, it's best not to rely on an Agreement Amendment. As a general rule, Agreement Amendments shouldn't be used to make changes to the main terms or the parties involved in the existing agreement. Moreover, it's possible to make more than one amendment to a single agreement, but it makes it easier to misinterpret the original document and the subsequent amendments.
Depending on your state, an Agreement Amendment may also be known as:
Contract Amendment
Contract Addendum
Amending Agreement
Addendum
Any party of an agreement who needs to change the contract's original terms will need to use an Agreement Amendment to do so without nullifying the existing agreement. Typically, this encompasses minor changes that aren't working out for either party or need to be changed for practical reasons.
Some examples may include:
Changes made to a job description, such as working hours or wages
Changes to the deadline of a project established in a contract
Minor changes to a rental agreement due to either the tenant or the landlord being unable to honor the original terms
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To create your document, please provide:
Governing Law: The state's law applying to the Agreement Amendment in case of any disputes.
Effective Date: The date when the Agreement Amendment goes into effect and the effective date of the existing agreement.
The Parties in The Original Agreement: The full name and address of each party to the original agreement.
Changes to The Original Agreement: A section detailing the changes to the existing contract. This section should be as detailed and specific as possible and include ONLY the changes with no extraneous comments.
Original Agreement: A description of the purpose of the original agreement.
Governing Law: The state's law applying to the Agreement Amendment in case of any disputes.
Counterparts Clause: A section of an agreement allowing each party to sign identical copies of the documents rather than all signatures appearing on the same copy.
Arbitration: A contract clause setting up provisions for independent arbitrators to settle disputes to the Agreement Amendment's terms.
Consideration: Something of value given in exchange for the terms of the agreement. An Agreement Amendment doesn't require a consideration but may include it.
To be legally enforceable, all the parties of the original agreement need to sign the Agreement Amendment. If notarized or witnessed, it should also carry the signatures of the notary or witnesses.
Although it's unnecessary to notarize the signatures on an Amendment Extension, it's good to do so, especially if the existing agreement is also notarized. Any legal formalities in the original contract should also be reflected in the Agreement Amendment.
Once the Agreement Amendment is signed and dated, distribute copies to each of the existing agreement parties. Each party should keep an executed copy for their records. It's a good idea to attach your copy of the Agreement Amendment to the existing agreement.
An Agreement Amendment does not need to be filed with any local or state records office since it is a private contract.
In theory, there are no legal limits to how many amendments you can make to a single agreement. However, the specific terms of the contract may place limitations on the amount and type of amendments that can be made to it. Additionally, the more amendments a contract has, the easier it is to misinterpret how they all fit together.
Again, there are no strict limitations on how many changes you can make with a single amendment. However, if you need to make more than five changes to a single agreement, even if they are minor, it may be a better idea to draft a new agreement altogether.
Yes, for the most part. Agreement Amendments can be used to add or remove contractual clauses as long as the substance of the existing agreement remains fundamentally unchanged.
There is no way to amend a contract or an agreement without the express consent and signature of all the original signatories. An Agreement Amendment must explicitly state that the parties consent to the changes therein, and requires their signatures.
If the existing agreement contains language explicitly preventing some or all of the terms from being changed, any Agreement Amendment to change those parts will likely be invalid. To change the agreement, in that case, it will need to be terminated and a new contract will have to be drafted.
Some states do allow verbal amendments to some agreements. However, this is almost never preferable to an amendment in writing. Even if it is allowed, legally enforcing a verbal amendment may prove challenging, if not impossible.
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