Intro to Legal Research and Writing CASE LAW Office Memorandum Contract to Waive

Intro to Legal Research and Writing
CASE LAW
Office Memorandum
Contract to Waive Child Support
To be filed on or before Monday, November 20.
INTRODUCTION
Facts. Mary, an architect, and a resident of New Mexico, came to Fairbanks last May,
having been assigned here by her employer to work on a local construction project. During her stay
in Fairbanks she met and had a brief, but amorous, relationship with John, an instructor at UAF.
Both Mary and John were single and remain so to the present date. Mary’s job in Fairbanks is now
completed and she is ready to return to New Mexico. However, a problem has arisen. She is
pregnant. She has already told John she is pregnant and that there is no question he is the father.
John does not dispute Mary’s conclusion.
The couple has discussed the ramifications of what has happened. Mary earns a six-figure
salary and is financially capable of supporting and raising the child alone, without any support from
John. She would prefer for John to simply “disappear from her life” and make no demand in the
future concerning his rights as a natural parent. In particular, Mary, who will likely marry in the
future, does not wish to be burdened with summertime visitations by her child to far-away Alaska
to be with a father the child will otherwise not know, plus all the other privileges of parenthood which
a natural father might claim. John is willing to accept Mary’s wishes as the best way to end the
relationship. He has offered, and Mary will accept, $10,000 in cash to help pay for the pregnancy
and birth of the child back in New Mexico. In exchange for this payment and John’s agreement not
to make any attempt to visit or communicate with the child after it is born, Mary will agree to seek
no child support from John at any time in the future. Mary would like for the agreement between
her and John to be reduced to writing and executed as a binding contract.
Assignment. Your supervising lawyer has asked you to research whether or not such a
contract is enforceable under Alaska law. Once again, this project was one presented to me several
years ago, basically as a constitutional law issue. For example, Art I, §10 of the U. S. Constitution
states that no state shall pass any law “impairing the obligation of contracts.” Similarly, the Alaska
Constitution, Art. I, §15, under the caption “Prohibited State Action,” provides that “no law impairing
the obligation of contracts” shall be passed. So, the lawyer who retained me wanted to argue the
state could not interfere with the constitutional right of Mary and John to enter into the contract. It
was interesting to find during my research that several cases, both state and federal, have
unanimously held that the constitutional contract clauses, like many guarantees in the
Constitutions, are not absolute. For example, everyone is familiar that the First Amendment’s
freedom of speech does not allow a man to stand up in a crowded theater and shout, “Fire, Fire,”
thereby possibly causing multiple injuries as theater-goers race for the exits. The underlying rule
is that the government can control our right to enter into contracts only when the contract will have
an impact on significant and legitimate public matters.
But I don’t want to turn this into a constitutional issue. In my research I found enough Alaska
law on the issue for you to write a memorandum without discussing either the Alaska or United
States Constitution. There is a statute, a civil rule, and several Alaska Supreme Court cases on
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