Making private loan legally binding

[Ben Kirchner]

If I'm giving a loan to another party with specific terms agreed upon, what is necessary to make this legally binding?  The terms are short enough to fit on one document.  Not sure what else besides the terms needs to be included, and what is necessary for signatures (signatures, initials? , notary?).  Is there a service that people use for these agreements, or an attorney here that is able to review a single document for me?

[Aaron H.]

Two signatures, but you should also get it notarized, because it's cheap and can only help.

The question isn't whether it's legally binding, it's what happens if one of you decides to sue the other. The boilerplate legalese you see in contracts isn't because the actual terms can't fit on a single page, it's because "what happens if you disagree about stuff" is complicated and you want some protections.

Plenty of attorney's will be happy to review your contract for a few bucks. If the deal is worth doing, it's probably worth crossing your t's. Alternately, you may be able to get a similar service on a site like legalzoom.