Appellate Practice Attorney serving New York, NY
A contract takes effect at the time of agreement, but often people reach general agreement on terms but still don't intend to be bound until they have a formal written agreement,i.e. when it is signed, which I would guess (without knowing all the facts) is probably the case here. Even if you began to take care of your grandfather before you had a contract, however, you may be entitled to recover from his estate the fair market value of your services - if you were a non-relative providing those services you would have a better claim since it would be obvious that you were expecting to be compensated, but as fairly close relatives it is not nearly as clearcut.
Answered on Jan 19th, 2018 at 11:46 AM