Entire Agreement

Plain English

An entire agreement clause (also called a merger clause) tells you that what you see in the written contract is everything the parties agreed to. It wipes out any earlier promises, conversations, or side deals that aren't written down. This protects both sides because it makes clear that no one can later claim "but you promised me something different" unless it's in the document. Courts generally respect these clauses and won't let parties add terms that contradict the written agreement.

Example

Tom and Lisa sign a lease for an apartment. The lease includes an entire agreement clause stating that the written lease is the only agreement between them. Later, Tom claims Lisa promised him free rent for the first month, but that promise isn't in the lease. Because of the entire agreement clause, Tom likely cannot enforce that alleged promise.

Used in a sentence

“The employment contract's entire agreement clause prevented the employee from claiming that verbal promises about bonuses were part of the deal.”

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