With contracts, some people think that you HAVE to have a lawyer to make it valid and stand in court but this is not the case. You can write out a basic contract that will stand in court but it has to meet certain criteria and it might be wise to include a lawyer in a court of law but for the general contract you do not need it. 

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You need many things to be included in the contract so that it is valid and most people don't know how to draft a basic contract but this is what you need: 

The one thing that you MUST have to make the contract valid is all parties names and approved signatures as this means that they are agreeing to the terms with the contract and it also means that they are liable if they do not uphold their end of the contract which gives you evidence in a court of law to prosecute. You should have all the details of the agreement laid out and you should put it in as much detail as possible so that they cannot catch you out on a small thing that you have accidentally missed out, you will got through negotiations with the other parties on what they want to have in the contract but all changes must be signed off as acceptable by everyone, while this is going on you should always check when you get the contract back for words missing and you should also make sure that they also haven't added words to sections that have been signed off. You need to be prepared to compromise with people about the costs and about other things however you need to know when to stick to your guns and make sure that you are not losing out on things that they will be gaining on. You must have all participants contact details (Name, Email, Phone numbers and addresses) So that they cannot back out of things and so that if something goes wrong in the partnership you have ways to contact them and they also have ways to hold you accountable if something goes wrong on your end of things. You need the date in which the contract starts and the length that it will be going on for (1 year, 2 months, 1 week). The contract MUST be in a typed fashion so that people cannot change it when everyone has signed it and you must all have a copy so that you can make sure no one tries to change it without one of you knowing. Another form of contract there is, is a vocal contract but for this to be legally valid you must have it recorded as if it isn't you have no proof of what was actually said. 

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You MUST remember that ALL changes must be signed off by all parties and if 'it' isn't in the contract they other people do not have to honour 'it'