legal documents
Binding written agreements
Legal documents are official papers with legal significance—contracts, wills, deeds, court filings, and similar instruments that create or record rights, obligations, or proceedings.
The phrase often appears in contexts requiring formal handling: Keep your legal documents in a safe place.
Legal documents typically require signatures, witnesses, or notarization to be valid.
- last will and testamentDocument directing posthumous asset distribution
- power of attorneyLegal authority for another's decisions
- summonsFormal court notification
- willFaculty of deliberate choice
- deedWritten property conveyance
agreement · lease · employment contract · affidavit · subpoena · cease and desist · motion · living will · writ · prenuptial agreement · judgment · bill of sale · business license · settlement agreement · articles of incorporation · notary · notarized copy · licensing agreement
- lawlaw, lawyer, lawyers, attorney, attorneys
- historical documentsDeclaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, Emancipation Proclamation, Federalist Papers
- historical recordsdiary, census record, annual reviews, letter, government records
- law officereception desk, waiting area, conference room, filing cabinets, filing cabinet
- lawslaws, statute, ordinance, acts, statutes
- paperworkinvoice, permit, documents, license, filing
legal documentshandshake deals
Informal contracts without paperwork
gentleman's agreements · personal letters · gentlemen's agreements · text messages · jottings
legal documentsoral agreements
Unwritten binding promises
verbal contracts · handshake deals · word of mouth · oral testimony · implied consent
legal documentsforgeries
Fraudulent imitations of originals
counterfeit documents · informal agreements · bootleg copies · working papers · forged documents