Travel Agency and Contract

Contract law exists to ensure that agreements between two or more parties are honored by every party. In this regard, contract law is based on the principle that agreements between two parties are legally enforceable since every part needs to honor his/her part of the deal. Despite the constant changes in contract laws because of the uniqueness of contractual situations, there are some basic elements that must exist for a contract to be established between the parties.

The existence of these elements is usually used as the premise for addressing contractual issues that may arise between the parties during execution of the terms of the agreement. The use of these elements help in determining the existence of a valid contract, especially when issues emerge during the fulfillment of each party's obligations or when one party denies the existence of a contract with another. One of the situations in this scenario that describe an offer and acceptance sufficient to generate a valid contract is Bob and Ben's situation.

In this scenario, there was an offer or promise i.e. Bob offered Ben $50 per week for lawn mowing every Saturday. Secondly, the two parties reached an agreement in which Bob was to pay Ben in two installments and if the job was satisfactory while Ben agreed to mow the lawn and provide the mower, gas, and oil.

Third, there was performance of contractual obligations on Ben's part since he mowed the lawn for nine weeks through Bob did not pay him (Ben) after six weeks as they had agreed upon. These elements demonstrate the existence of an offer and acceptance sufficient to create a valid contract between Bob and Ben. However, the legal capacity for these two individuals to enter into a contract could generate concerns since Ben is 14 years.

These issues could be addressed through contractual capacity, which states that an individual's ability to enter into a contract is not diminished by age (Walston-Dunham, 2012). Therefore, Ben's age is not an impediment to his ability to enter into a contract with Bob. The second situation involving Noah and his travel agency does not have an offer and acceptance sufficient to create a valid contract.

While Noah enlisted the help of the travel agency to look for a good deal for his vacation, there was no offer by the travel agency that Noah would agree upon. The travel agency did not provide any offer to Noah showing the best possible deals that Noah could agree upon before charging him (Noah).

In essence, Noah had provided an indefinite promise that would not constitute a valid and enforceable contract because there were no specific terms for the travel agency to act upon rather than simply look for a good deal for his vacation. In the third situation involving Damone and his best friend, there is an offer and acceptance sufficient to create a valid and enforceable contract.

Damone made an offer to Shari to help her contact every specialty shop within a 200-mile radius over the next 18 months for 50% of the sales generated from this business. The acceptance is the oral agreement that took place when Shari called Damone and accepted the offer, which in turn creates a valid contract. The fourth situation involving Kevin and his parents does not create a valid and enforceable contract between the parties.

While there was an offer made by Kevin's father to continue carrying him on their (parents) insurance, there is no record of Kevin accepting the offer. The lack of acceptance, which is an important element of a contract, implies that no valid contract exists between Kevin and his parents. In the final situation, there is a valid contract between Kevin and his father because there was an offer, which Kevin agreed upon. The father made an offer of paying Kevin's college tuition until he completes his bachelor's degree.

Kevin's decision to call and thank his father is an indication of acknowledging and accepting the offer, which essentially create a valid contract between these two parties. Assignment 13.4 Even though contract situation vary from one to another, contracts are generally oral or written agreements. Generally, contracts do not have to be in writing in order to be considered as valid and legally enforceable agreements between parties. As long as agreements between parties have the basic elements of a contract, they are considered valid and legally enforceable.

However, there are situations where the agreement or contract should be in writing to be legally enforceable and valid. This is primarily because oral contracts can sometimes be very challenging to enforce since there are no clear terms of the contractual obligations of the parties (FindLaw, n.d.). An example of a situation where contracts should be in writing to be valid and legally enforceable is in commercial agreements.

While commercial contracts do not necessarily have to be in writing to be enforceable, having a written agreement is usually advisable in order to prove the terms of the contract if violation of contractual obligations by either parties occurs. The first situation in which Wes agrees to purchase Manda's house and property and make a monthly $10,000 payment for a nine-month period, a written document is necessary for the contract to be enforceable.

Having this agreement in writing is necessary because it's a commercial contract involving the sale of real estate for a relatively long-period of time. Since the payment does not happen once, the contract should be in writing to clearly show the terms of agreement and contractual obligations that are binding to both parties. The second scenario where Terry promises to pay Nixa $25,000 is she marries him and they remain married for at least six months should be in writing in order to be enforceable.

While there is no indication that Nixa accepted Terry's offer, many state laws require a promise made in exchange for a promise of marriage to be written in order to be deemed enforceable (Walston-Dunham, 2012). In this case, the contract should be written to be enforceable if Nixa accepts the offer and in turn promises to marry Terry.

The third situation in which James promises to grow his hair, donate it to charity, and obtain a receipt for his taxes that values the hair at $5,000, should be in writing to be enforceable. Based on many state laws relating to contracts, agreements that take at least a year or longer to be completed should be.