What is a breach

A breach is an unjustified failure to perform the terms of a contract. It could include any kind of failures such as failure to deliver services, failure to perform the job, failure to pay on time, and many more.

Contracts are usually made in order to formalize an agreement and to protect the parties in the agreement. If one party fails to uphold its obligation mentioned under the contract, that would lead to a breach of a contract and will certainly lead to legal consequences.

A contract is a document that also governs do’s and don’ts even after service has been delivered, so it is very important to pay attention to what you agree upon at the time of execution of the contract.

Whether you have a small business or a large enterprise a breach of contract can affect you very badly leading to a waste of time, money, and resources.

Note that not all breaches are created equal, there are 3 types of breach of contract:

  • Partial breach of contract: when a party fails to uphold a portion of a contract. Most of the contracts can still be fulfilled.
  • Material breach of contract: when the aggrieved party can sue the breaching party for damages incurred as well as terminate the contract if they wish to do so.
  • Anticipatory breach of contract: when one party to a contract stops acting in accordance with the contract, leading the other party to believe he has no intention of fulfilling his part of the agreement.

Breach generally happens due to a lack of information. Any contract consists of thousands of pages defining your rights and obligation as well as a lot of legalizing terms and conditions, it is important to know and have all the important terms, dates, and obligations handy to fulfill your contractual commitments. One cannot control the actions of the other party but it doesn’t mean you cannot protect yourself from the breach of a contract, you can always mitigate the risks by drafting the best possible agreements and monitoring your rights and obligations.

A Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool can help you manage and monitor your obligations. Modern-day CLMs have advanced features like alerts, customized workflows, and contract intelligence to stay abreast of your obligations securing you from any probable breach.