Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

Minor's contract

Contracts entered by minor children are voidable. The minor can declarethe contract void and unenforceable. He should do this in writing. Iassume the age of majority for contracts in your state is over 18 but youshould check with a local attorney to be certain.

Minor's contract

Although I do not practice in Pennsylvania, under the law of virtually every state, a contract entered into by a minor is at least voidable, if not void. Thus, it is dangerous for anyone to contract with a minor because the minor can generally elect not to perform its obligations under the contract, thus rendering it unenforceable. As to whether the utility company can refuse service in the future, even utilities that have a monopoly generally have the right to require applicants for service to comply with certain reasonable conditions, such as posting a deposit, etc. If the minor's contract is adjudged by a court to be void, I don't think that this could later be used against the minor. However, assuming that the minor does not bother to take this matter to court, I wouldn't be surprised if the utility couldn't insist on payment of the past debt before agreeing to provide future service. Remember the new "golden rule": He who has the gold makes the rules.

minor's contracts voidable

I would agree with the other posters. Pennsylvania is pretty much in line with the general rules on this issue. There are not many decisions on this, I suspect because most businesses are simply not going to get involved in any substantial contracts with a minor.

The general rule is that a contract with a minor is only enforceable for a necessity such as food or medical care. I really doubt that telephone service would be considered a necessity. On the other hand, the phone company's certainly not obligated to continue to provide service to a minor or any other customer who has not paid their bill. In fact, the phone company probably would not provide service to the minor in the future, even if the past bill is made, and there is no reason they should have to absorb the risk of non-payment.

The above does not constitute legal opinion and is offered for the purposes of discussion only. The law differs in every jurisdiction, andyou should not rely on any opinion except that of an attorney you have retained, who has a professional duty to advise you after being fullyinformed of all the pertinent facts and who is familiar with the applicable law.