Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/427/427mass326.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 23:58:46+00:00

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agreement or a 'serious and not merely an incidental part of the performance of the agreement.' " Margolies v. Hopkins, 401 Mass. 88, 92 (1987), quoting Green v. Richmond, 369 Mass. 47, 51 (1975).
law marriage in this Commonwealth, see Heistand v. Heistand, 384 Mass. 20, 24 (1981), nor have we "permitted the incidents of the marital relationship to attach to an arrangement of cohabitation without marriage." Collins v. Guggenheim, supra. We do not do so now.
The defendant argues that the judge erred in concluding that the contract violated public policy because its sole purpose was to secure the sexual fidelity of the plaintiff. We agree with the defendant's argument. While the defendant testified that an act of infidelity on the part of the plaintiff, coupled with her claim that he could not just "throw her out," led him to seek legal advice, no evidence showed that the only or dominant purpose of the agreement was to secure the plaintiff's sexual fidelity, or that "sexual relations were an inherent aspect of the agreement or a 'serious and not merely an incidental part of the performance of the agreement.' " Margolies v. Hopkins, supra at 92, quoting Green v. Richmond, 369 Mass. 47, 51 (1975). Indeed, the agreement provides that sexual services are not a consideration for the making of the agreement. The agreement also states an intent "to protect and define each other's rights pertaining to past and future services rendered, earnings, accumulated property and furnishings and other matters that may be contained herein."
The defendant also contends that the judge erred in applying to the parties' agreement requirements attendant to antenuptial agreements, in particular that the agreement be fair and reasonable. As stated above, marriage gives each party substantial rights concerning the assets of the other which unmarried cohabitants do not have. An agreement between two unmarried parties is not governed by the threshold requirements that apply to an antenuptial agreement. See generally Osborne v. Osborne, 384 Mass. 591 (1981); Rosenberg v. Lipnick, 377 Mass. 666 (1979). Accordingly, the agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant is enforceable so long as it conforms with the ordinary rules of contract law, and a court is no more entitled to inquire into its fairness and reasonableness than it is in respect to contracts generally. Contrast R.R. v. M.H., 426 Mass. 501, 512 (1998) (surrogacy agreement).
3. We need not address the defendant's other arguments. We note only that the Probate Court appears to have had jurisdiction over the plaintiff's quantum meruit claim. See J.A. Sullivan Corp. v. Commonwealth, 397 Mass. 789, 793 (1986); Glick v. Greenleaf, 383 Mass. 290, 294-295 (1981); Bradford v. Richards, 11 Mass. App. Ct. 595, 598 (1981).
[Note 5] For example, there is a public interest in ensuring that one of the parties to the agreement does not become a public charge. See O'Brien v. O'Brien, 416 Mass. 477, 479 (1993). Cf. Osborne v. Osborne, 384 Mass. 591, 599 (1981).
[Note 7] The parties have no children, and thus the agreement did not raise any issues regarding the legal restrictions on their ability to affect the rights of their children by the agreement. As to agreements that do concern children, we would not, in any event, enforce those that do not conform to the children's best interests. Cf. R.R. v. M.H., 426 Mass. 501, 512 (1998) (mother and father may not make binding best-interests-of-the-child determination by private agreement); Osborne v. Osborne, supra at 599 (court empowered to modify antenuptial agreement where provision affecting right of custody of minor child is not in best interest of child); Knox v. Remick, 371 Mass. 433, 437 (1976) ("Parents may not bargain away the rights of their children to support from either one of them"). See Perry, supra at 77 n.2.

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