Also known as: expectancy interest · expectancies · future interests · expectant interests
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An anticipated benefit or advantage that a party expects to receive from a future event or relationship.
Esme Ellington and Enzo Eastwood bought an engagement ring and a house titled jointly after their engagement. Enzo canceled the wedding. Esme sued for breach of promise to marry. The court permitted recovery of wedding expenses and emotional distress but denied any claim for the financial security and social standing she expected from the marriage.
Eileen Epstein quit her nursing position and prepared to move across the country after her engagement to Ella Emerson. Ella ended the engagement. Eileen sued for breach of promise to marry. The court awarded reliance losses from the job resignation but refused recovery for the lifetime financial support she had anticipated from the marriage.
Erika Echevarria signed a premarital agreement waiving claims to her fiancé's carried interest at his request. He later broke the engagement. Erika sued for breach of promise to marry. The court allowed damages for emotional distress and out-of-pocket costs but excluded any recovery for the carried interest and elevated financial position she expected from the marriage.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Esther Eisenberg resigned her position and relocated to support her fiancé during his medical fellowship. He ended the engagement. Esther sued for breach of promise to marry. The court granted recovery for moving expenses and lost wages but denied any award for the future professional and financial advantages she had expected from the completed marriage.
Expected benefits of the marriage itself, such as lifetime financial support, improved social standing, or access to a spouse's wealth, are barred. Only reliance losses and certain tort-style harms like emotional distress or reputational injury are recoverable.
Such damages are considered too speculative and would treat the engagement as an ordinary contract supporting full expectation recovery. The action is instead a hybrid tort-contract claim limited to actual reliance and personal harms.
No. Even a contractual payout clause tied to cancellation does not convert the claim into one for expectancy recovery. Courts still limit relief to reliance and emotional-distress damages.
…were not compelled to answer it there and a decision on it was expressly reserved. Separated as our issue is from that of the future interests of the children, we have before us the elemental question whether a court of a state, where a mother is neither domiciled, resident nor present, may cut off her immediate right to the care,…