---
id: KB-TZ-019
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/traceability-and-compliance/verbal-agreements-and-how-to-put-them-in-writing
idioma: en
categoria: trazabilidad
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-TZ-015, KB-TZ-016]
citadoPor: [KB-TZ-020]
---

# Verbal agreements: how to put them in writing

_They are closed by phone, on site or over lunch, and months later each side remembers something different._

**Responde a:** how to record a verbal agreement · confirming by email what was agreed · we agreed by phone and now they deny it · minutes of a client meeting

Most decisions that later matter are not taken in writing. They are taken in a four-minute call, on a site visit or in a corridor conversation with the client. Nobody is going to stop working like that — what can change is what happens in the ten minutes afterwards.

## The confirmation email, and why it works

| Part of the email | What it is for |
| --- | --- |
| What was agreed, in short sentences | It is what will be read a year from now |
| Who was there and when | It places the agreement in time |
| What each side does and by when | It turns the agreement into something checkable |
| «If I have misunderstood, tell me» | It invites correction, and that is the key |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> That last line is what turns a note into evidence: **an email describing what was agreed and inviting correction carries weight if it goes uncorrected**. Not because silence equals signing, but because anyone later holding a different version has to explain why they read that and said nothing. It is the difference between «I remember it differently» and «I wrote it to you that same day and you did not deny it», and it costs four sentences.

## How it is done in practice

1. **The same day, before it cools** — By the next day it is remembered differently, and it shows in the writing.
2. **Neutral and unembellished** — A summary they recognise; if it reads like a trap, they answer defensively.
3. **What was left open, too** — Saying what was NOT agreed stops it being assumed later.
4. **And filed where the record is** — In your personal inbox nobody else will find it.

> [!WARNING]
> There is a detail about recordings that surprises people: **recording a call is not the easy answer it looks like**. It depends on where you are and who is on the other end, it usually requires telling them, and it changes the tone entirely — people speak differently knowing they are recorded. A confirmation email achieves almost the same without any of that. **If you still want to record, ask your adviser first**.

## When the agreement really matters

**En corto**

- If it changes prices, deadlines or responsibilities, an email is not enough: that belongs in a contract or an addendum.
- And if the other side wants to «leave it on a handshake», that is exactly when to write it down.
- An agreement nobody minds putting in writing is rarely an agreement.

> [!NOTE]
> What weight a verbal agreement carries, and what is needed for it to bind, depends on the type of contract and your country. **Your adviser answers that**; here it is about not being left with nothing to show once the conversation is forgotten.

**What if they never reply?**

That silence already works for you. What does not work is never sending it.

**Does a phone message count?**

It does, and it gets lost. Copy it into the record the same day.

**Does writing it look distrustful?**

Framed as a working summary, no. And whoever objects is usually the signal.

## Ejemplos

**A company agrees a deadline change with a client by phone and writes nothing.**

- Sends four sentences that same day with what was agreed and what stayed open

→ When the client remembers another date, there is an email from that day nobody denied.

**Something is agreed by phone and nothing remains.**

- Sends an email summarising what was agreed

→ What was agreed stops depending on two memories.

**The summary goes out and nobody confirms.**

- Asks for explicit confirmation

→ The agreement has two parties.

**The agreement is kept in a personal inbox.**

- Files it with the contract or matter

→ It lives where people will look.

**Months later there is a dispute over what was agreed.**

- Checks the summary with its date

→ The dispute closes by reading.

**Successive changes are agreed and the thread is lost.**

- Files each agreement with its date

→ The sequence of what was agreed is legible.