Legal Definitions - scrivener's error

A scrivener's error refers to a minor, unintentional mistake made during the writing, typing, or copying of a document. It is a clerical error that does not reflect the true intent or agreement of the parties involved, and it can typically be corrected without changing the substance of the document.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a business contract for the sale of goods where the agreed-upon price was $10,000. However, when the contract was typed up, a decimal point was accidentally misplaced, making the price read as "$1,000.00". Both parties had extensively negotiated and verbally confirmed the $10,000 price, and other clauses in the contract refer to quantities and values consistent with the higher amount. This would be a scrivener's error because the written document contains a clear typing mistake that does not align with the actual agreement between the buyer and seller.

• Consider a will prepared by an attorney for a client. The client intended to leave a specific antique watch to their niece, Sarah Miller. However, due to a simple oversight during transcription, the will mistakenly lists the beneficiary as "Susan Miller". If there is clear evidence, such as notes from the client's meeting with the attorney or other family records, indicating the client's true intention was to benefit Sarah, then the incorrect name in the will would be considered a scrivener's error. It's a clerical mistake that doesn't reflect the testator's (the person making the will) actual wishes.

• Suppose a court issues an order in a civil case, and in one paragraph, it refers to the date of a previous hearing as "October 15, 2023", when the hearing actually took place on "October 25, 2023". All other references in the order, as well as the court's official calendar and transcripts, confirm the correct date was October 25th. This discrepancy would be a scrivener's error—a simple typing mistake in the court's document that does not alter the legal effect or substance of the order, and it could be corrected by the court.