70 N.J. Super. 116 - Bendit v. Intarante’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A contract operates immediately to create a property interest in the premises while a will is revocable, or, more properly speaking, inoperative or ambulatory until the death of the testator, at which time it operates to create a property interest in the beneficiary.’ ... The undertaking of a party under a contract is made in consideration of something to be paid or done by or on behalf of the other party, so that the obligation to and the right to require performance are reciprocal. A contract creates a present, enforceable and binding right over which the promisor has no control without the consent of the promisee, while a testamentary disposition operates prospectively. ... An instrument which does not pass any interest until after the death of the maker is essentially a will. But not every instrument which provides for performance at or after death is testamentary in character. If the instrument creates a right in the promisee before the death of the testator, it is a contract.... [T]here is nothing in the statute of wills that prevents the creation by contract of a bona fide equitable interest in property and its enforcement after the death of a contracting party, even though the date of death is agreed upon as the time for transfer.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Robert Blechman and Cathy Blechman Chermak v. Estate of Bertram Blechman

2. “An otherwise valid and binding contract for the payment of monies due or to become due to the promisee is not invalidated because one of its provisions calls for payment of the balance due to a third party, in the event of the prom-isee’s death before receiving payment in full. * * * [The agreement] conveyed a present equitable right upon Mrs. La Spada as a third-party beneficiary, which ripened into full ownership of the balance due upon her husband’s death. * * * Restatement, Contracts, sec. 133(a) and 135(a). * * * The contract was valid and enforceable, and the weekly payments became payable to Mrs. La Spada upon her husband’s death. 175 A.2d at 229 . 34”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gray v. United States