{"id":34,"date":"2011-04-12T15:19:26","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T15:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miblaw.com\/lawschool\/?p=34"},"modified":"2011-07-20T20:36:37","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T00:36:37","slug":"when-is-a-contract-subject-to-the-statute-of-frauds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.miblaw.com\/lawschool\/when-is-a-contract-subject-to-the-statute-of-frauds\/","title":{"rendered":"When is a contract subject to the Statute of Frauds?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the statute of frauds is asserted as a defense against the enforcement of an alleged contract, one should ask the following questions:<\/p>\n

1. Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds?<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. If it is subject, is the statute of frauds satisfied?<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. If it is not satisfied, do the factors invoke one of the exceptions to the statute of frauds<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Below is the analysis that should be conducted under the UCC and Common Law to answer this first question, “Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds?”<\/p>\n

The UCC presents the easier test as to whether a contract is subject to the statute of frauds. Under the UCC, the only thing we care about is whether the contract is for $500 or more.<\/p>\n

Under common law we don’t care about the dollar amount of the contract. Restatement (Second) 110 states that “[t]he following classes of contracts are subject to the Statute of Frauds, forbidding enforcement unless there is a written memorandum or applicable exception:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A contract of an executor or administrator to answer for a duty of his decedent (the executor-administrator provision)<\/li>\n
  2. A contract to answer for the duty of another (the suretyship provision)<\/li>\n
  3. A contract made upon consideration of marriage (the marriage provision);<\/li>\n
  4. A contract for the sale of an interest in land (includes leases) (the land contract provision);<\/li>\n
  5. A contract that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof (the one-year provision)”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The majority of these classes are self-explanatory but a few notes on the fifth class, the one-year provision. This class requires a contract not<\/em> to be performed within one year from the date the contract is made to be in writing. The standard view is that a contract is not subject to the statutory provision if it is possible<\/em> to be performed within a year, even if the prospect of such performance is remote or unlikely. Therefore, the question you should ask is, “At the time of the formation, could it have been completed within a year?” If the answer is “yes,” no matter how remote or unlikely it is, then most courts will deem that the contract fits this class and is not<\/em> subject to the statute of frauds. Something to remember is that many courts are looking for reasons to exclude things from the statute of frauds.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When the statute of frauds is asserted as a defense against the enforcement of an alleged contract, one should ask the following questions: 1. Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds? 2. If it is subject, is the statute of frauds satisfied? 3. If it is not satisfied, do the factors invoke one … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “When is a contract subject to the Statute of Frauds?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,13],"tags":[36,35,34,37],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contract-defenses","category-contract-law","tag-common-law","tag-contract-law-2","tag-statute-of-frauds","tag-ucc"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen is a contract subject to the Statute of Frauds? -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Below is the analysis that should be conducted under the UCC and Common Law to answer the question "Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds?"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.miblaw.com\/lawschool\/when-is-a-contract-subject-to-the-statute-of-frauds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When is a contract subject to the Statute of Frauds? 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