QUESTION

can someone make a deal on realestate have it notorized then a couple months later make a different agreement with your spouse leaving your name off e

Asked on Jun 04th, 2013 on Breach of Contract - Arizona
More details to this question:
I made a agreement on some property had it notorized and a couple months later the person I made a deal with got my spouse to go down and sign different papers without my conscent taking my name off everything when I was the only one on the origional agreement
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1 ANSWER

Appellate Practice Attorney serving New York, NY
This depends on (a) whether you had a binding agreement in the first place; and (b) if you did, whether your wife had authority to change it.  Assuming you had a binding agreement (which depends on numerous factors, including whether all necessary parties signed it, whether all parties were of an age and capacity to be bound, whether it complied with the statute of frauds, whether there was any fraud in the inducement, whether valid consideration was exchanged between the parties, etc.), and based upon what you wrote in your question, your wife did not have actual authority to change the agreement.  However, she may have had what is known as "apparent authority" to do so.  When a principal (you) puts an agent (your wife) in a position that a third party will reasonably believe that the agent has authority to do something on the principal's behalf, the principal can be bound by the agent's actions.  For example, if you have a shop and you ask a friend to watch it for a few minutes but not to sell anything without your permission, someone coming in the shop and seeing your friend in charge can buy something from your friend and you will be stuck with the deal, even if you wouldn't have approved the price if you had been there.  You can sue the agent for any damages, but between you and the customer, there is a valid contract.  Here, without knowing all the facts in much more detail than can be provided in an email, I can't tell you whether your wife had apparent authority to act for you, but even if she did not, while you may have no recourse against the seller, you may have a valid claim against your wife.  One caveat - since this is a situation between spouses, there may be some wrinkles in the local (Arizona) law, with which I'm not familiar, which could affect the authority of one spouse to act for the other, and/or the right of one spouse to sue the other.
Answered on Jun 05th, 2013 at 10:38 AM

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