Can I use a text message as an agreement between 2 parties?
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Can I use a text message as an agreement between 2 parties?
My son plays for a soccer club and we asked to leave the club. They said we needed to pay our club fees in full and then a release would be granted. We payed the fees in full and now they won’t release my son without me first paying a $500 fee. In our agreement there was no mention of this fee and now they are changing their agreement that states this. All of my agreements at the bottom of my receipts states nothing about a release fee. I got 2 text messages from the club’s president stating if i paid the remaining balance of $490 he would release my son from the club. I have a zero balance
and now he won’t release my son. The administrator for the club said the same thing in a text and still they say that I need to pay the release fee. The club has made numerous promises to us verbally and have not kept one promise. They also said we are free to leave whenever we want.
Asked on January 17, 2018 under Business Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Yes, a text message can form a contract or enforceable agreement. All that is needed for a contract is mutual agreement between two parties (i.e. they agree on the terms) and an exchange of "consideration," or that each party gives or promises the other party something of value (like you paying them the balance, and them releasing your son). If there is mutual agreement and consideration, there is a contract, whether it is purely oral (spoken), written as a formal agreement, or something in between those extremes, such as evidenced or shown by text messages. Based on what you write, you may well have an enforceable agreement.
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