INTENTION

• what is the intention to create legal relation?

  refers to mutual understanding between parties that their agreement is meant to have legal consequences, making it enforceable in a court of law.
• Balfour V Balfour


  a husband promised to send money to his wife while they were separated due to work. When they later divorced and the payments stopped, the wife sued. The court ruled that this was not a legally binding contract. They decided that arrangements between spouses are usually not intended to be legal agreements.
• merritt v merritt


  a separating couple made a written agreement about their house. The husband promised to transfer the house to the wife if she paid off the mortgage, which she did. but he refused to transfer the house. the court held that this was a binding contract, the court also took into consideration the fact that the wife had requested the husband to write and signed a note representing the promise
• family agreements in intention case

  jones v padavatton

  a mother offered to provide expenses if her daughter would quit her job as secretary in the USA and come to England to study for the Bar. Later on, she also provided a house for her daughter. When differences arose between them, the mother asked her daughter to leave the house but she resisted on the ground that her mother was contractually bound.

  The court held that the original agreement was motivated by the mother’s desire for her daughter to succeed at the Bar.