The main purpose of a general release of liability form is to protect a business entity from potential lawsuits. This is an official document created between two parties – the releasee who is potentially liable and the releasor who promises not to sue.
Contents
- 1 General Release of Liability Forms
- 2 What is a release of liability form?
- 3 Release Of Liability Waivers
- 4 Types of liability release forms
- 5 Release Form Templates
- 6 Components of a general release of liability form
- 7 How do you write a release of liability form?
- 8 Does a release of liability need to be notarized?
General Release of Liability Forms
What is a release of liability form?
If you own a business and you conduct physical activities, having a general release of liability form is important because it protects you and your business from any potential lawsuits. For instance, you’re operating a construction firm. In such business, there is a chance that at some point, a worker might get injured while using construction materials.
Even if the injury happened during normal operations, you won’t have to worry because your business wouldn’t be at fault. But if the injury happened because of negligence, you can’t use this document for your business’ defense.
Obtaining this form isn’t difficult. Neither do you need to hire legal representation to get it. You should tailor-fit this document on a case-to-case basis. As such, it is, therefore, very important that the document uses the proper language when covering the protection you desire.
The most popular situation for needing a release from liability is when you sell your car. The document protects you from liability for any traffic or parking violations that happen after your car’s sale.
Release Of Liability Waivers
Types of liability release forms
A release of liability waiver is a lot like other release form documents in the sense that it allows for the discharge or release of a specific person or object from certain rights or obligations. Here are the different types of liability release forms you can use:
- General Release of Liability Form
This is simply defined as a form that releases or discharges the Releasor from the right to take any legal action against the owner of the Releasee as long as the latter meets certain requirements including:
The Releasor has read, acknowledged, and understood the dangers or risks of the task – and has affixed their signature on the document to confirm the agreement.
Injuries sustained listed in the liability release form as a possible injury. - Simple Release of Liability Form
This is a simpler version of the previous one used for the same purpose except with a general and simplified definition of risk and liabilities. - General Contractor Release of Liability Form
This is a release from an agreement or contract to a different contractor. - General Waiver and Release of Liability Form
As the name implies, this is a type of waiver that permits the use of labor from persons who have read the waiver and agreed to it. They won’t take action against the waiver’s owner if the person should sustain any kind of liabilities. - Medical Release and Liability Form
This form enables the owner to get released or discharged from any form of responsibilities or obligations to the Releasor. However, it does permit the owner and their associates to give immediate medical treatments or first aid if needed. - Parental Waiver Release of Liability
Parents should have a good familiarity with this type. This is often used to allow the release of obligations and responsibility to the state of health of the parents of the dependents. It is a primary requirement for the dependent before they can attend or join an event or activity that may or may not cause the dependent harm.
Release Form Templates
Components of a general release of liability form
Defined in a simpler way, a general release is when you broadly surrender all unknown and known claims against another entity or individual. The document covers broad claims filed in common cases that involve disputes.
Although this version is the simplest type of release form template, it’s comprehensive and flexible enough for almost all situations. A typical general release of liability should include these basic components:
- Releasor: the person who promises not to take legal action against or sue the organizer or owner of the activity or event.
- Releasee: the organizer or owner of the activity or event – person at risk of getting sued.
- Effective date: the date when the agreement takes effect.
- Event: the description of the activity, circumstances or event.
- Consideration: the thing that the releasor gives in return for affixing their signature in the release.
- Governing law: any disagreements get resolved through the laws of your state.
How do you write a release of liability form?
When composing a general release of liability form, make sure to tailor the contents to your specific situation. For instance, if you need to create this form after you experience a vehicular accident, the document you make would be significantly different from a waiver of liability release form for an activity like skydiving.
But for any form, it should include the names of the Releasee and the Releasor, as well as, the description of the liability’s nature that you’re releasing. Additionally, the document should also include a description of the risks that the Releasor assumes. In the most release of liability forms, they should include a statement similar to the following:
- “The undersigned hereby assumes all risk of injury or harm as a result of the activities specified above and agrees to release, indemnify, defend, and forever discharge the releasee from all liability, claims, demands, damages, costs, expenses, and causes of action due to death, injury, loss, or damage to the undersigned.”
In most cases, a Releasee will try to get a release form signed if they foresee the risk of getting sued in the future. This, however, is not a complete guarantee that the Releasee won’t get held liable but it will be more likely they can limit or escape their liability if something happens.
Does a release of liability need to be notarized?
If you plan to execute the waiver of liability release in connection with another contract, then you should either execute the document at the same time or before the other contract.
Upon the completion of the agreement, all the parties involved should affix their signatures to the document to make it official and complete. It is not a requirement to have the release notarized but having this process done is always a good idea, especially if you want additional protection.
