Post: Oral agreement for land purchase

Posted by Sonya Payne on 2/24/07

In 1999, my father gave my sister a piece of land as a
wedding present. There was a stipulation in the contract
that stated if she decided to sell he would have right of
first refusal. My sister put a mobile home on the
property and in 2005 she moved to another state. She and
her husband told my father that he could buy the land for
$7000 or the land and home for $30,000. My father opted
to buy the land only. My sister told us on several
occasions that she didn't want our father to have buy the
land again, but since they still owed on the mobile home
they needed the money. My father trusted family so he
didn't get anything in writing. That was his first
mistake. Everyday after the oral agreement, my parent and
my sister communicated. My mother would tell her,"We are
getting the money. We'll have it tommorrow. We have the
check for you" Each time they talked, my sister said
nothing until the check was in hand. Then they informed
them they were renting. My parents had to refinance their
house at a higher interest rate for a longer period of
time to get the money. Now out of the blue, my father
gets a document stating a price of $38,000 dollars for
everything. Can they do that?

I have been doing research to try to find anything to help
my parents. They can not afford to pay $38,000 nor do
they want to. I don't want my father to loose the land
that he worked so hard for. The land has been in our
family for over 30 years. I have discovered that courts
have enforced oral agreements for property in the past.
One case involved parents' promise to sell farm to son. I
also discovered something that states if one party suffers
damages due to the oral agreement, it could be enforced.
My parents suffered financial damage due to the oral
agreement. Finally I came across Chapter 923 Statute of
Frauds and it states that conveyance of property held to
be full performance by one party to contract so as to take
that contract out of state of frauds regarding individual
liability of party conveying property. My parents held to
their full performance. I would like to know if there is
any validity to what I found? Can it be of any use to
help my parents?

Posts on this thread, including this one

Oral agreement for land purchase, 2/24/07, by Sonya Payne.