Breaking Contracts
Yes, you did read that correctly. Lawyers are forever going on about "getting it in writing". But, once you do "memorialize" your agreement and "reduce it to writing", what happens if circumstances change or you simply change your mind? Are you stuck? Not necessarily.
Breach of contract
A contract is a legally binding and enforceable set of reciprocal rights and obligations. Read it. Pay particular attention to what it says about failing to live up to your part of the bargain, what lawyers call "default". You need to know what is likely to happen if you're thinking about breaking the contract. If you don't understand them, speak to your attorney.
Default events and remedies should constitute a major portion of a well-drafted contract. Remedies may be spelled out: real estate contracts, for example, limit a seller's remedy to retaining the buyer's deposit if the buyer can't or won't close. Or the contract may make general reference to statutory or common law remedies: real estate buyers, for example, must fall back on their "legal remedies", that is, a lawsuit for money or compliance ("specific performance"). Cases of "personal service" contracts, in which the party to the contract (the guest artist for your Nutcracker) is more important than the act to be performed (the grand pas), are governed by a history of court decisions ("common law") establishing that money alone may not be adequate compensation for breach. Imagine your reaction if your star decided not to appear!
Remember, contracts are agreements. Negotiate first...
The set of rules governing your particular transaction (the "contract") represents a "meeting of the minds" and was created by the parties through negotiation, compromise, and settlement regarding the various terms and conditions of the deal, among them, price and payment terms, timing, and default conditions. Even if the negotiations leading to the contract were difficult, perhaps adversarial, the fully executed contract is tangible evidence that all differences were resolved and that agreement was in fact reached.
Try the same approach if you need to withdraw from the contract. You successfully negotiated the original deal; you may be successful in negotiating withdrawal from the deal. It is possible that the contract no longer serves the purpose of the other party either, and breaking the contract may be as simple as tearing it in two. Or, all parties may agree that limited compliance is better than none.
...then rewrite.
There is no reason that contracts can't be renegotiated, and rewritten, at any stage up through final performance. Changes to the contract in the form of amendments, riders, or separate modification agreements are all as binding and enforceable as the original contract. If you cannot perform within the contractual time, or if the contractual price has unexpectedly become burdensome, make a reasonable proposal to the other side. A deal can be saved by an offer to extend the time to perform or to pay, or to accept a reduction in the quantity of goods bought or sold, or even a substitution of goods. Be creative. Be reasonable. Write it down. Everyone benefits.
If you breach our contract, I can sue you!
Often, withdrawal from a contract is a matter of money, a choice of forfeiting your deposit, for example, or "buying out" an employee's contract. Breaking a contract becomes a business decision: will you lose less by withdrawing than by performing?
But breaking a contract has legal consequences. If you breach your contract, willfully or not, you can be sued. You may be liable for monetary damages, that is, you may be required to reimburse the other party for money he or she lost because you failed to perform. Or you may be required to fulfill your obligations. Or both.
Of course you would have an opport-unity to present your defenses. You might argue that the other party committed some sort of fraud in persuading you to agree, or that the terms of the contract were unconscionable. You might even succeed. Litigation, however, is always costly and painful. It's a lot cheaper to consult your attorney before you breach and open yourself to liability.