Question

Max and Juli communicate by text message and Juli agrees to marry Max if he promises to take care of her daughter as well. His final text message reply says, “Of course I will take care of her if you marry me. Love you. Max.” Juli saves the text messages as proof of his love for her. After they marry, Max refuses to take care of Juli’s daughter. Juli attempts to enforce the agreement, but Max argues that it has to be in writing because it is a contract in consideration of marriage. If this ends up in court, the court likely would:

Answer 1

The answer is: enforce the agreement, as copies of the text messages are sufficient writings.

For an agreement to be enforceable by law, there are several things that need to exist:

- Enforceable agreement (the promise to take care of the daughter)

- An exchange in value (Juli promise to marry him in exchange of him taking care of the daughter)

- Competent parties (both the parties must be psychologically sound)

- Proven consent (could be in the form of writing such as text message or recording)

The agreement between max and Juli fulfill all of those criteria. This is why the court would most likely enforce the agreement.