Business Law and the Regulation of Business 11th Edition by Richard Mann, Barry Roberts

Exercise 1

Should a Spouse's Promise Be Legally Binding?
FACTS Joan Kantor is a social worker for the employees of Surf Co., a towel manufacturer. Stan Koronetsky, a Surf employee, has confided the following problems to Kantor.
Koronetsky and his wife, Paula, have been married for ten years. Koronetsky states that three years ago his wife was unfaithful and Koronetsky began a divorce proceeding. When Paula Koronetsky promised to refrain from further infidelity and to attend marital counseling sessions, Koronetsky agreed to stop the divorce proceeding. However, although Stan dropped the divorce proceeding, his wife never attended counseling.
Koronetsky is also upset because he and his wife had agreed that she would attend medical school while he worked to support her. In exchange for his promise to put her through medical school, Paula promised that she would support him while he obtained his MBA degree. But after Paula became a doctor, she refused to support him; consequently, Stan never got his master's degree.
Social, Policy, and Ethical Considerations
What are the individual interests at stake in this situation? Is it reasonable to assume that spouses make many private agreements, and that generally these agreements are made without the intention of their being legally binding?