i need your help please read

ive been working for a company for 18 years.title-operations manager,the last 5 years.my boss became very ill in 1999.at that point ,his secratary stayed on ,and i ran his company. its only she and me. he died last september.his wife now owns the company,has no interest in it,and is closing its doors in oct-2005.aside from the company,she is a wealthy woman.her husband,my boss,who has died,always told me that if he ever closed his bussiness,he(the company)would take care of me,in the form of severence pay,my question-does his wife have to forfill his wishes,or not,is there anything i can do?---please respond oct.is comming soon

1 answer  |  asked Jul 16, 2005 8:54 PM [EST]  |  applies to New York

Answers (1)

David M. Lira
When is a Promise a Contract

I would really urge you to call an attorney for a detailed discussion of your situation.

But using your fact situation as grist for a general discussion:

It is really a very common situation. An employer and employee get along well. THe employer is genuinely grateful for the efforts of the employee. The employer begins to say thing like, "When I retire I'll . . . ." It might be a promise of severance. It might be a promise to sell the company to the employee. It might be any number of things.

None of it means anything. And it might mean nothing for a number of reasons. But at best, in these situations you have an agreement to come to an agreement at some future point. There isn't much you can do with a promise of that kind.

Also remeber that Yogism that says an oral contract isn't worth the paer it's written on. In other words, arguably, you might have an oral contract, but oral contracts are very difficult to prove, particularly when you are dealing with someone who has died. A court is not very likely to enfroce it.

posted by David M. Lira  |  Jul 18, 2005 09:16 AM [EST]

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