Question:
Please use the IRAC method when answering these questions.
Issue - Rule - Application - Conclusion
Jim has been hiding a secret from Belinda that he has a girlfriend, Sheena for the last 5 years. They met when they were enrolled in a website design class. Jim has been spoiling Sheena by giving her a lot of money every month. Recently, they have been quarreling a lot and Jim has decided to recover the money he has given to Sheena. He says to his lawyer that the money had been a loan, not a gift. Sheena disagrees and claims that the money had been a gift. After they have calmed down, they meet up to patch things up. Jim and Sheena draft and sign a document before Jim gives it to his lawyer to formalize it. In the document, Jim agrees that he will not recover the money he has given to Sheena, but that Sheena is to help him in his online business that has not been doing well. In exchange for Jim’s promise, Sheena agrees to help Jim with his online business because Jim needs Sheena’s website design skills to improve his online business.
Has Sheena given valid consideration for Jim’s promise?
Answer:
Issue: Whether Sheena's promise to provide Jim with her website design skills constitutes a valid consideration for Jim's promise not to consider the money he gave to Sheena as a loan but as a gift.
Rule: While monetary exchange is the most common form of consideration, it need not necessarily be always money. For a consideration to be valid, it needs to be something worthy, therefore it can be either an obkect, money or even a service.
Application: For a consideration to be valid, each party should get something in return. Bargained for exchange is the term that is used to best define consideration. This inplies that each party to the contract gets entitiled to receiving something which is of value to them, monetary or non- monetary. If at the desire of the promisor, the promisee agrees to do something or abstains from doing somehting, it will constitute a consideration as long as both the parties gets benefit from it. In the given case, Jim agrees to not treat the money he has given to Sheena as a loan if Sheena promises to help him with his online business by loaning him her website designing skills. Here, Jim is the promisor and the consideration for his promise is Sheena's website designing skills. It is of value but not monetary yet it will benefit Jim by boosting up his online business while Sheena in return gets to keep the money as gift.
Conclusion: Based on the above principle, Sheena's promise to provide her website designing skills to Jim shall constitute a valid consideration.
