Law, Business, and Society 9th Edition by Tony McAdams

Exercise 55

Rose Elsten and Donald Cook lived together in Tucson, Arizona, from 1969 to 1981. They were not married, but Rose used Donald's last name, and they represented themselves as husband and wife. They had two joint bank accounts. They jointly owned a house, two cars, and some shares of stock. When Rose left Donald in 1981 she received a few hundred dollars and one car, and Donald retained the balance of the property. She sued Donald on the grounds that he had breached their agreement to share their assets equally. She argued, "[E]verything we did and purchased... was together as husband and wife. It was just something that we agreed on." If an agreement existed, did it violate public policy Decide Rose's lawsuit. Explain. See Cook v. Cook, 691 P.2d 664 (Ariz. S.Ct. 1984).