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Can someone help me with Business Law?
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Can someone help me with Business Law?

Question by Bev: Can someone help me with Business Law?
I have been given a homework assignment that I need directional help with! The assignment in brief is:

A married woman moves away from her husband and lives with a single man. These two are elderly. The elderly man owns the house however deeds it to her, reserving a life estate to himself. They form a contract agreeing to live together in harmony in the house. They agree in the contract that neither has the right to dispossess the other from the house and if either decides to leave, they can do so. This contract was to be carried out for the rest of their lives and live in harmony. After three years the elderly man changes the locks on her and doesnt allow her to reenter. She sues to enforce the contract.

Is this a legally binding contract? What rules of law support whether its legal or not?

Im not looking to cheat..i need some help deciding this…some direction would be great!!

Thank you!!!

Best answer:

Answer by wazwondring
If this was a bar exam question, this is how I would approach it:

There seems to be several elements that should be analyzed. First, the rights of the husband, with respect to the wife’s ownership of the property. Second, the ability for an elderly person to enter into a contract (it may not make any difference, but it wouldn’t hurt to throw in a competancy issue). Next, if the elderly man owns the house and deeds it to her, he no longer owns the house, she does. But, if he reserves a life estate for himself, then he is entitled to sole possession as long as he is alive and she has no right to enter until he dies. The contract that they form stating that they are going to live together for the rest of their lives should be analyzed from a statute of frauds point of view (is it a rental contract or does it give her a right of possession?), although the statute of frauds may not apply if the contract was in writing, or because it is possible that the contract can be performed within one year and does not involve a real property issue. There are also consideration issues to analyze to determine if the contract is valid. The living in harmony part may be a condition precident, which, if not met may void the contract. The next analysis would be a comparison of the life estate and the contract to live in harmony; does the contract over-ride the life estate?

This is one of those questions that has to be answered with a yes, if… and a no, if…

I probably missed five or six things, but it’s your homework, not mine. If you analyze everything I would guess that you should end up with 10 to 12 pages of analysis.

Good luck!

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