Posted by John Merchant on March 14, 2006 at 12:15:22:
It’s generally quite legal for 2 parties to do their own contracts and documents.
Depending on what kind of documents, they might need to be notarized to be binding…e.g. any & all RE docs have to be in writing and signed by both (or all parties) to be binding.
And some documents must be in affidavit (sworn) form, and/or notarized to be binding.
Residential rental agreement of 12 months or longer, in State of WA, is required to be written,signed and notarized to be legally binding.
Now of course, as I’m sure you recognize, it’s often not very smart for a layman to do his own legal docs as he doesn’t know law well enough to recognize traps, problems, things to cover or avoid, language to use, etc…so in my book it’s pretty foolish to try to save money on an important legal doc by avoiding a lawyer.