what is a waiver 
a waiver is a legally binding provision where either party in a contract agrees to voluntarily forfeit a claim without the other party being liable waivers are commonly seen during settlement talks when one party may be willing to pay out a slightly higher award as long as the other person often a claimant agrees to sign a waiver relinquishing their right to further legal action understanding waiversa waiver is a demonstration usually in written form of a party s intent to relinquish a legal right or claim the key point to note is that the relinquishment is voluntary and can apply to a variety of legal situations essentially a waiver removes a real or potential liability for the other party in the agreement for example in a settlement between two parties one party might by means of a waiver relinquish its right to pursue any further legal action once the settlement is finalized since the party signing the waiver is surrendering a claim that they are entitled to it stands to reason that they will usually only do so if they are receiving some added benefit waivers can either be in written form or some form of action a waiver carried out by an action might be based on whether a party in an agreement acts on a right such as the right to terminate the deal in the first year of the contract if it does not terminate the deal which would be the act of absence of action before the first year that party waives its right to do so in the future examples of waiversadvantages and disadvantages of waiversdepending on which side of the waiver you are on the advantages and disadvantages are usually quite clear if someone is the claimant in say a car accident an insurance company would have the claimant sign a waiver as part of their settlement offer this means that although the insurance company is paying a settlement to the claimant the claimant can no longer pursue legal action against the insurance company the advantage for the claimant in this example would be that they are given a settlement package the advantage to the insurance company is that once the claimant signs the waiver their responsibility to the claimant as well as the exposure to a future lawsuit is waived the disadvantages in this example for the claimant are the same as the advantages for the insurance company they would be unable to pursue a future claim the insurance company will usually pay an inflated settlement offer especially if they feel the claimant may have a legitimate claim in the future and the company is attempting to mitigate that risk before it materializes due to the nature of waivers they can be either advantageous or disadvantageous depending on which side you are on and the circumstances surrounding the event finalizes the arrangementcan lower insurance requirements for certain businesses that require waiversremoves possibility of future legal actionsometimes things require additional attention but a waiver forbids necessary action