Valid contract

Promises supply consideration

A buyer and seller reach a signed Illinois land-sale agreement with exchanged promises to convey and purchase. Assume the other formation requirements are met and deposit delivery is not a condition of formation. The deposit is due in three days under the contract; that deadline has not yet passed, and no check was handed over at signing.

1. The exchanged promises can supply consideration.
2. The stipulated deposit deadline has not passed, so these facts do not show a late deposit.
3. If a deposit duty is later missed, apply the actual clause and remedies rather than automatically erasing formation.

Answer: Do not declare the contract invalid solely because earnest money was not handed over at signing.

Changed closing date

A buyer's offer specifies October 1 closing as a material term. The seller changes it to October 15 before signing and returning the response, with no acceptance of the original terms.

1. The seller did not assent to the offer exactly as presented.
2. Changing a material performance date creates a counteroffer.
3. No contract on the changed terms forms until the buyer accepts while that counteroffer remains open.

Answer: The seller made a counteroffer, not an unqualified acceptance.

Secret intent

A buyer signs and delivers an offer but privately tells a friend that the buyer does not feel committed.

1. The buyer's communicated words and conduct show the offer; the uncommunicated reservation alone does not negate those manifestations.
2. The facts do not yet supply the seller's required acceptance or the other formation elements.
3. Do not treat delivery of this offer as a completed contract or a transfer of ownership.

Answer: The uncommunicated mental reservation does not by itself defeat objective assent.

Unsigned land-sale text

The parties discuss a property and price by phone, but the person against whom enforcement is sought signs no contract or memorandum.

1. The bargain concerns sale of land.
2. Section 2 of the Illinois Frauds Act requires the relevant signed writing for an enforcement action.
3. Possible exceptions are legal issues and are not supplied by the facts.

Answer: The agreement faces a Statute of Frauds enforcement defense; do not simply label it void.

Electronic signature

The seller intentionally applies a verifiable electronic signature to the final contract through the agreed platform.

1. Within the applicable UETA scope, electronic form alone does not defeat the signature requirement.
2. Each party's agreement to electronic transactions and attribution to the signer require proof from the actual context and record.
3. Authority, assent, sufficiently definite terms and the other requirements still matter.

Answer: The electronic form can satisfy the signature requirement if the governing conditions are met.

Agent without authority

A neighbor signs a purchase contract in the owner's name because the owner is traveling, but the owner gave no authority and refuses to ratify it.

1. No actual authority or ratification is supplied. An agent's assertion alone does not establish apparent authority from the principal.
2. Section 2 also specifies authorization in writing signed by the party to be charged.
3. Do not issue a private enforceability ruling from the neighbor's signature or the owner's absence.

Answer: Do not treat the neighbor's signature as automatically binding the owner.

Financing contingency

A fully signed contract makes the buyer's duty to close conditional on timely mortgage approval and gives a notice procedure if approval fails.

1. Assume formation is otherwise established; the stated financing clause conditions a later duty to close.
2. The actual deadline, efforts, approval, notice and termination terms must be followed.
3. This clause does not mean every financing contingency has the same terms or automatically cancels the agreement.

Answer: The contingency does not by itself prevent contract formation.

The capacity rule changes the label

Assume a person personally enters a contract after a plenary guardian has been appointed, and Section 11a-22(b) applies. The question does not concern an authorized contract entered by the guardian.

1. Apply the specified statutory consequence rather than the ordinary nonnecessaries minority shortcut.
2. The contract is void as against the person and estate.
3. The statute says the other contracting person remains bound.

Answer: Use the statute's asymmetric consequence, not a blanket voidable label.

A short closing does not remove the land-sale rule

A buyer and owner discuss a land sale by phone and plan to close in 30 days. Assume no contract or memorandum signed by the owner, no properly authorized agent's signature and no facts establishing a legal exception. Enforcement is sought against the owner.

1. The one-year performance comparison does not eliminate Section 2's separate land-sale requirement.
2. The facts lack the charged owner's required signed writing or memorandum.
3. Identify the writing defense without declaring that every oral bargain is automatically void or that no legally recognized exception could ever exist.

Answer: Thirty days is not a general exemption from the land-sale writing rule.

An inquiry is not a substituted bargain

While a land-sale offer remains open, the recipient asks whether a different closing date might be possible. Assume the words and circumstances establish a tentative inquiry only, with no acceptance, rejection or demand for a substituted bargain.

1. Use the stipulated tentative character instead of treating every question as an altered acceptance.
2. The inquiry does not itself prove either a rejecting counteroffer or acceptance.
3. The offer's remaining life and any later agreement still depend on its terms, communications and other facts.

Answer: The inquiry alone establishes neither a completed contract nor automatic rejection of the offer.

1. Which three requirements do Illinois decisions call the basics of a contract?

1. Price, an appraisal and delivery of keys
2. Signature, earnest money and recording, with no other elements
3. Offer, acceptance, and consideration
4. A license, an advertisement and a scheduled closing

2. A seller changes the price before signing a buyer's offer. What is the response?

1. A completed purchase because any response accepts an offer
2. An automatic release of the buyer's title to the seller
3. A counteroffer
4. An acceptance of the original price because the seller signed

3. Must earnest money always be delivered for consideration to exist?

1. No, exchanged promises can supply consideration
2. Yes, promises to convey and buy never count as consideration
3. Yes, a bargain cannot contain consideration until cash is deposited
4. No, because the deposit clause can never create a duty

4. What does mutual assent examine?

1. Objective agreement to the same bargain
2. Only an uncommunicated intention to avoid the bargain
3. Whether the appraised values exchanged are exactly equal
4. Only whether a signature appears somewhere in the file

5. What does the Illinois Frauds Act generally require for a land-sale enforcement action?

1. An oral description of the agreement to any licensee
2. A writing or memorandum signed by the party to be charged or authorized agent
3. Payment of a cash deposit in place of every required signature
4. A recorded conveyance before any agreement can form

6. What is the usual classification of an ordinary nonnecessaries contract made by a minor, assuming no emancipation order or special statutory exception?

1. Fully performed solely because the minor signed
2. Voidable by the protected party
3. Always binding on the minor with no capacity defense
4. Void as against both parties in every minority situation

7. Can an electronic signature satisfy an Illinois signature rule?

1. Yes, every platform click conclusively proves authority and assent
2. Generally yes, subject to statutory scope and proof
3. Never, because only ink can satisfy any Illinois signature law
4. Yes, even when the applicable scope and proof conditions fail

8. What is a voidable contract?

1. An agreement that either party may disregard for any reason at any time
2. An agreement that necessarily has no possible legal effect from inception
3. An agreement the protected party may elect to avoid
4. A contract that is already fully performed merely because it was signed

9. Does a financing contingency necessarily prevent contract formation?

1. No, because a financing clause can never affect a duty or remedy
2. No, it can condition later performance
3. Yes, unless the buyer immediately doubles the deposit
4. Yes, every conditional duty prevents any agreement from forming

10. Who should determine a disputed live contract's legal validity?

1. A qualified attorney or court based on the full facts
2. A platform vendor declaring that uploaded terms must be enforceable
3. A broker issuing a legal ruling from a signature alone
4. An appraiser deciding every capacity and authority defense

11. An Illinois land sale is to close in 30 days. Does that timing alone remove Section 2's signed-writing requirement?

1. No, because all contracts of any type require a recorded deed
2. No; the land-sale rule is separate from the one-year performance rule
3. Yes, if the buyer promises a deposit
4. Yes, every contract completed within a year may be oral

12. An agent signs a land-sale contract for an owner. What additional formality does Section 2 specify for that authority?

1. The owner must send only a verbal instruction
2. Any electronic platform account proves authority
3. A broker's business card is enough
4. The authorization must be in writing, signed by the party to be charged

13. For a contract covered by Section 11a-22(b), made by the person after a plenary guardian was appointed, which stated consequence applies?

1. It is merely voidable in every case
2. It is void as against that person and estate, but the other contracting person is bound
3. Both parties are automatically free of any obligation
4. Every agreement signed by the guardian is void

14. Under UETA Section 5, what matters before using its electronic-transaction rules?

1. Each party has agreed to transact electronically, determined from context and circumstances
2. Only the platform vendor must agree
3. One electronic transaction forces all future transactions online
4. Any uploaded PDF proves every party consented

15. Which is the careful conclusion when a signed writing leaves essential obligations too indefinite to identify the agreed bargain?

1. Essential uncertainty can prevent enforcement; not every omission has that effect
2. The court must supply any bargain one party prefers
3. A signature always cures the uncertainty
4. Every missing punctuation mark makes the contract void

16. A seller's promise to convey is exchanged for a buyer's promise to purchase and pay. A deposit is due later and is not an express formation condition. What is the best analysis?

1. No consideration exists until cash reaches escrow
2. The buyer may always ignore the deposit clause
3. The promises can supply consideration; deposit performance is a separate question
4. The parties necessarily owe nothing until a deed is recorded

17. Which authority supports this page's current Illinois electronic-signature discussion?

1. An assumption that every electronic record is genuine
2. The former Electronic Commerce Security Act as unrepealed law
3. The applicable Uniform Electronic Transactions Act provisions, with their scope and conditions
4. A platform's marketing statement alone

18. Does old age or a medical diagnosis alone prove that an adult lacked capacity to contract?

1. Yes, every diagnosis makes every transaction void
2. No; capacity at contracting and the applicable facts, order and legal rule matter
3. Yes, every adult over a fixed retirement age lacks capacity
4. No, because an actual adjudication can never affect contract rights

19. While an offer is open, the recipient makes only a tentative inquiry about a possible term and neither accepts nor demands a change. What follows from that fact alone?

1. The recipient now owns the property
2. The offer must remain open forever
3. The inquiry necessarily forms a contract
4. It is not automatically a rejecting counteroffer or an acceptance

20. Does the existence of a financing or review clause establish the same review period and cancellation rights in every Illinois contract?

1. No, because review clauses can never have legal effect
2. Yes, every clause creates the same statutory five-day period
3. No; the actual language, applicable law, deadlines and required steps control
4. Yes, a signature always eliminates every later condition