Merritt v Merritt (1970) 1 WLR 1211

One of the agreements that may arise is an agreement between a married. One of the important cases for this is Merritt v Merritt (1970) 1 WLR 1211.

Case Facts:

In 1941, the Merritt couple married and loaned money from the bank for them to construct their house. The house was owned by Mr Merritt, but the couple shared on the paying their loan, and was only made a conjugal property in 1966.

Nonetheless, the couple decided to separate and Ms Merritt agreed to continually pay for the loan of the house and Mr Merritt promised to transfer the sole ownership of the property to Ms Merritt once it has been fully paid. This agreement was made into writing, but when the time came that the house deemed to be transferred to Ms Merritt, Mr Merritt refused to do so.

Case Issue Merritt v Merritt (1970) 1 WLR 1211

The issue of the case was whether or not the promise carried out Mr Merritt was legally enforceable even though the parties were legally married.

Case Decision:

The decision of the court was that it can be inferred from the circumstances between the parties that the promise was legally binding.

Case Reasons:

The reason for the decision was that there was an objective ground for the decision. It was, according to Lord Denning MR, that from the circumstances one must ask whether the party deems their agreement legally binding.

Therefore, it was presented in the case that honorable understanding is already absent in the relationship of the parties. With this, it can be inferred that they intended their agreement to be legally enforceable.

The case of married couple entering into an agreement is essential considering that some aspects of their cases and terms often overlap with the fact that they are contractually obligated due to their marriage.