Legal Writing And Taking Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal Writing And Taking Question - Essay Example There are a few issued involved. First: There was no paper contract. All agreements were verbal. Second: Does Don's offer to have Peter's father move in constitute an offer? Did Peter's last statement constitute a counter-offer? An enforceable contract has the following elements: Competent parties, legal subject matter, offer, acceptance and consideration (O'Brien et al, 2005). Both parties here were legally competent. The underlying subject matter, purchasing nursing home assistance, is wholly legal. It is the last three that might be problematic. An offer is simply a proposal to make a deal. There are the offerer and the offeree: Don and Peter, respectively. Any counter-offer made by the other party rescinds this. Acceptance is a communication of desire to accept the offer. Consideration is, effectively, payment, either of money or of services rendered. Finally, verbal contracts have the force of law. However, if a contract is verbal, it has the risk of being difficult to enforce d ue to disagreement as to underlying fact, and some verbal contracts fall under fraud laws, specifically, if they involve more than a certain amount of money and cannot be performed within a given time. Verbal contracts tend to be enforceable when concrete steps were taken to comply with them.  Following the conversation closely, the last statement Don makes is an offer. Effectively, Don offered Peter two weeks to move his father in, after Peter spoke with his sister.