{"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":"<p>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<p><strong>1. Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. If it is subject, is the statute of frauds satisfied?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>3. If it is not satisfied, do the factors invoke one of the <a title=\"Exceptions to the Statute of Frauds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.miblaw.com\/lawschool\/exceptions-to-the-statute-of-frauds\/\" target=\"_blank\">exceptions to the statute of frauds<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Below is the analysis that should be conducted under the UCC and Common Law to answer this first question, &#8220;Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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<p>Under common law we don&#8217;t care about the dollar amount of the contract. Restatement (Second) 110 states that &#8220;[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<ol>\n<li>A contract of an executor or administrator to answer for a duty of his decedent (the executor-administrator provision)<\/li>\n<li>A contract to answer for the duty of another (the suretyship provision)<\/li>\n<li>A contract made upon consideration of marriage (the marriage provision);<\/li>\n<li>A contract for the sale of an interest in land (includes leases) (the land contract provision);<\/li>\n<li>A contract that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof (the one-year provision)&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>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 <em>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 <em>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, &#8220;At the time of the formation, could it have been completed within a year?&#8221; If the answer is &#8220;yes,&#8221; no matter how remote or unlikely it is, then most courts will deem that the contract fits this class and is <em>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>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.miblaw.com\/lawschool\/when-is-a-contract-subject-to-the-statute-of-frauds\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;When is a contract subject to the Statute of Frauds?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,13],"tags":[36,35,34,37],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>When 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 &quot;Is the contract subject to the statute of frauds?&quot;\" \/>\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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