Child threatened to sign a contract

by **daveiron** Wed May 03, 2017 6:07 pm

Just had a call from one of my nieces daughter wanting advise,

She is 13 or 14 and the school have told her she must sign a contract that if someone complains about bullying she agrees to pay a five hundred pound fine & if she has not signed by next week she will get detention.
Fortunately she is very savvy and ripped up the contract . I will phone her mother tonight to get further details.
Its also ironic as her younger sister is now being home schooled because she was being bullied at school & the school did nothing about it.

by **Lopsum** Wed May 03, 2017 6:27 pm

take the other out too

by bimmer Thu May 04, 2017 9:41 am

Conditionally accept, if they want her to sign the contract, it will cost £1,000,000 Very Happy

by **assassin** Fri May 05, 2017 12:46 am

If you can get this in writing, along with a copy of the contract it would be very useful information.

Minors cannot sign contracts and any such contract would be invalid unless she could show she had sufficient knowledge of contracts and contract law, and was in possession of the material facts; I suggest this is more indoctrination of younger children to condition them for the future, to make them more willing to accept anything put in front of them.

Under "mutuality of bargain" there must be a benefit and a liability, we know the liability as it is a financial penalty, but what is the benefit, and whom is the benificiary of this benefit, and how is the benefit to be established? and what is the "expected benefit" if those wanting a contract signed fail to deliver.

I would use "offer and acceptance" in this case, to my benefit. Under offfer and acceptance I would make it a ring fenced condition that the child attains top marks in every subject as the benefit, and if the school fails to deliver you can use the contract itself, and UCC to give you more power, then state their liability if they fail to deliver their benefit. I would also include an "honour clause" which means if the school fails to deliver the grades then there will be no court action and the school must pay up, and they have no recourse to law.

As a minor she cannot form a contract under "majority of age" and as she is not of a majority age (18) anything she signs is unlawful and cannot be enforced.

by **daveiron** Fri May 05, 2017 7:24 am

Hi assassin,
agreed i have the same thoughts .Fortunatly she is very savvy and when she was given it she ripped it up in front of them and told them she is not signing it.They have told her previously that she should become a lawyer (god forbid).
She only phoned me to check she had things right,& she had remembered a chat we had about a year ago about signing
Under duress & V.C. etc.
Having given more thoughts to this since i spoke to her mother I agree with you getting this in writing will be very important ,especially the threats of detention for refusal to sign ,the implications of that could be extremely serious.

I will phone her mother over the weekend & get things planned properly.

by MikeThomas Fri May 05, 2017 11:56 am

Isn't it against the ECHR Act to force someone into contract?

by **assassin** Fri May 05, 2017 12:32 pm

It is Mike.

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