CONTRACTS The language of business Business people dealing with each other o What their rights and duties are o Doesn t have to be in writing may be oral but it is best to put it in writing Definition a legally enforceable agreement Legally Enforceable if not followed through with contract you are able to sue in court court can issue a remedy usually money Agreements Ks Agreements legally and socially K symbol of contract Contracts are within an agreement Illegal agreements are not legally enforceable o Ex Student was suspected of cheating the teacher found out since everybody knew the person accused hired a hit man to kill the person who ratted the student out illegal because hiring a hit man is against the law Social agreements are illegal too waste of courts time FLORIDA STATUTES 2012 Pre Nuptial before marriage Post Nuptial Contracts after marriage 732 702 Waiver of spousal rights 1 The rights of a surviving spouse to an elective share intestate share pretermitted share homestead exempt property family allowance and preference in appointment as personal representative of an intestate estate or any of those rights may be waived wholly or partly before or after marriage by a written contract agreement or waiver signed by the waiving party in the presence of two subscribing witnesses You have certain inheritance rights if you want it changed it must be on paper signed formality 2 Each spouse shall make a fair disclosure to the other of that spouse s estate if the agreement contract or waiver is executed after marriage No disclosure shall be required for an agreement contract or waiver executed before marriage Disclosure tell each other what assets you have Fair disclosure telling each other your assets within reason not necessarily every single thing Marriage is a social agreement Nuptial relating to marital agreement Pre nuptial usually for wealthier people or blended families smart less stress and time if divorce occurs taken care of before marriage Example Kate and Prince Prince is to wed Kate Middleton he is advised to have her sign a pre nuptial agreement because he has so much money and there is a lot at stake they are rare in Britain and barely recognized Example Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas the prenuptial agreement states that Jones gets 1 5 million every year they are together after the divorce 10 of his assets from the day of marriage and an additional 5 million if he is caught cheating Custody is up to the court s final decision ESSENTIALS OF A CONTRACT 1 Agreement manifestation showing of mutual assent show each other there is an agreement of terms a The Objective Theory of Contracts Meeting of the Minds Mutual know and agree Through words create a mutual assent oral or in writing Subjective Theory what was in the mind chaos Example Seller sends a letter to buyer of a horse seller says he will sell for 2200 the buyer accepts and sends a check for 2200 the seller gets the check but calls the buyer saying there was an error and he had originally asked for 2500 the buyer said it was already in writing Dispute they had a deal and both agreed the seller says no because its not what he intended his mind was far apart the judge ruled in favor of the buyer because objective theory of contracts that information of 2200 was written down 2 Obligation legal duty TYPES OF CONTRACTS 6 most common types A Express agreement manifested in words oral or written a Ex Contract of sale buying a car b Ex Renting an apartment from a landlord B Implied agreement manifested by conduct e g dental appointment a Ex Agree to buy product from a store buyer puts it on counter to pay for item b All terms are impliedly reasonable bring in evidence of impliedly reasonable aspect to come to court c Ex Dental Appointment when you make an appointment you agree that you will pay for the service the dentist can sue you if you don t pay i Evidence of impliedly reasonable aspect would be quotes from other C Unilateral promise for an act dentist offices a ONE one promise in return for one act b Ex Reward contract for lost dog 100 for whoever finds dog c Contract comes into existence ONLY once the act is performed D Bilateral promise for a promise a Most common b Promise to do something if you promise to do something else a Ex Hire someone as research intern paying 5000 a moth but the job hasn t c Ex Landlord rents house renter pays E Executory not yet performed started yet it is in the future F Executed completely performed a Ex Research internship is over payments are made b No longer an employee no money is owed ELEMENTS OF A VALID CONTRACT A Mutual Assent 1 offer and 2 acceptance a Sell something buyer agrees b Agreement B Consideration a The bargain for exchange b Ill do this if you do that for me i Ex Sell car if you pay me money c Two way street d Exchange is necessary makes deal enforceable C Capacity mental cannot make a fully binding contract if any of the statements below are valid a 1 Old enough b 2 Sane enough c 3 Sober enough d Age of adulthood for most things is 18 years of age there are exceptions though alcohol consumption D Legality a Legal purpose of the contract OFFER ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS Guidelines for an offer A Definition a promise to render a stated performance in return for the requested counter performance do this for me and I will do that for you 1 Promissory language requirement AND 2 Effect of equivocal language can create problems Promissory Language Requirement language which sounds like a promise Best word to use is promise use those words to avoid being attacked I will buy or sell showing commitment Equivocal Language you are sitting on the fence being wishy washy we want commitment don t say I m thinking B Essential terms must be certain critical important terms 1 Avoid ambiguous unclear capable of more than one meaning language Quantity is very important some instead of an exact amount Part is a bad word should be more specific how much is a part Essential names of parties buyer seller the subject of the contract price no dollar amount needed as long as what is it to be paid is formulated C Promise must be communicated under circumstances which manifest present serious contractual intent Communicated have to tell person you are making an offer AND circumstances are serious you are serious about the offer Example Bar We ll pay 5 per year for the period between this year 1980 and the year of an event depicted on a t shirt no requirements other than an event A man
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