Two people whom I know slightly seem to be headed toward a court battle. I've tried to clap on my "historian research hat" (sorry, Necromancy, but no feathers) in being aware of the situation, steering a clear path of being involved... but I admit that the part of me that loves People Magazine is fascinated by the mutual mess. Here are the lessons I have observed - already knew, but am now reminded of, yet again:
1) Always always always have a thoroughly legal contract. Do not trust anyone at their word. Write it all down, get it signed and witnessed.
2) For the love of pete, keep your mutual friends and acquaintances out of it.
3) Hanging up on people is immature and only exacerbates the situation. Take a deep breath, be adult enough to say that perhaps you two are misunderstanding each other, and try again.
Had these two people followed these three basic steps, their lives would be a lot less messy, and their legal bills much less expensive, than they are right now.
None of this involves me personally, and I'm hardly cut up about it - I'm just fascinated that three steps which, to me, seem like basic common sense, got so badly over-looked.
2 comments:
I'm just glad you get to observe all this at a minimum safe distance.
Not everyone is the feather hat type. I know this.
I have violated rule #1 so often it's not funny, but I've been lucky. I bought a used car from a friend without any paperwork years ago. We still speak fondly of that car, which has long since gone to its reward. And I shared a house with another friend. We were not always perfectly amicable, but all the financial stuff was, including when she moved out and we bought her share--informally, without any kind of legal help or advice.
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