The following question was submitted to John Roska, an attorney/writer whose weekly newspaper column, "Q&A: The Law," runs in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Illinois Edition) and the Champaign News Gazette.
Question
My son signed a contract to buy a car when he was 17 years old. The car broke down when he got it home, so he returned it to the dealer and stopped paying. Now, the dealer is suing him for the rest of the money owed on the contract. Isn’t it illegal to sell a car to a minor? What can my son do?
Answer
It’s “legal” to sell a car to a minor, in the sense that nobody can go to jail or get fined for it. It’s not against any criminal law. But contracts with minors are unenforceable. That means your son has a defense, which should defeat the car dealer’s case against him.
It’s a basic legal principle that minors don’t have the legal capacity to enter into contracts. The basic idea is to protect young people from themselves, and from those who might take advantage of them. The law therefore presumes that people under 18 simply don’t know enough to be held legally liable on contracts. It doesn’t matter how bright or capable a minor may actually be; minors are legally incompetent if they’re under 18.
Technically speaking, though, contracts with minors are “voidable.” That means the contract is valid until something is done to void it. A minor can void a contract at any time, for any or no reason. He just has to tell the other party that he’s canceling the contract. He has to return whatever he got, and whatever he gave should be returned to him. That means your son is entitled to a refund of what he paid on the car.
If someone turns 18 after signing a contract, that person can still cancel within a reasonable period of time of turning 18. If she doesn’t, she’s considered to have “ratified” the contract after becoming legally competent. It’s not clear how long a reasonable period of time to cancel is, but it’s probably not much longer than several months.
There’s one exception to the basic principle that minors aren’t liable on contracts, but it shouldn’t affect your son’s case. Minors can be held liable on contracts for “necessaries.” Those are basics, like food, shelter (including utilities), and clothing. Court cases generally say that cars aren’t necessaries.
Your son can prove his age with a certified copy of his birth certificate. He’ll have to raise the defense of minority himself, since the judge won’t dig that out for him.