Also known as: suretyship provision · Statute of Frauds suretyship
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A class of contracts subject to the statute of frauds that requires a signed writing for enforcement when one party undertakes to pay the obligation of another if that other party defaults.
Maya urged her friend to open a neighboring boutique and orally told landlord Lewis that if the friend's LLC fell behind on rent she would personally pay whatever was owed. The LLC later defaulted on the five-year lease. Lewis sued Maya for the unpaid rent, but the absence of any signed writing left the promise unenforceable.
Paul Peterson orally assured a supplier that if Pablo Perez could not pay for delivered goods Paul would cover the invoices. Pablo defaulted and the supplier sued Paul. The court held the oral undertaking unenforceable because it constituted a promise to answer for the debt of another.
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A promise falls within the provision when the promisor undertakes a secondary obligation to pay if the primary debtor defaults rather than assuming direct responsibility for the underlying duty.
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The exception applies only when the promisor's primary object is to secure a direct and substantial economic benefit for itself rather than to accommodate the debtor, converting the undertaking into an original obligation.
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An executor's personal promise to answer for a decedent's preexisting debt is separately subject to the statute of frauds and likewise requires a signed writing to be enforceable against the executor individually.
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Mere reliance or performance by the creditor does not eliminate the writing requirement for a suretyship promise unless an exception such as part performance or main purpose is independently satisfied.
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