A Contract Entered Into By An Intoxicated Person Is Never Valid.

A contract entered into by an intoxicated person is never valid.

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A contract entered into by an intoxicated person is never valid.

Question:

Is it true that a contract will not be valid if one of the contracting parties was intoxicated?

Answer:

False

A contract entered into by an intoxicated person is a valid contract.

Even though a person was under the effect of alcohol or drugs (intoxicated) when entering into a contract, the law recognizes that the contract can still be valid.

A person cannot invoke his or her own “negligence” or “recklessness” to negate their legal obligation under a contract.

Elements of a Contract

There are five elements required for a contract to be valid and legally binding:

• Offer
• Acceptance
• Consideration
• Legal capacity
• Legality 

In this context, a contract can be formed either expressly through the written or oral expression of the parties or even implicitly through their actions.

As a result, an intoxicated person may legally enter into a valid and legally binding contract even though the person was not in a perfect position to assess the risks or benefits of the contract.

As a result, the “actual intention” of the contracting party is not relevant from a legal perspective to establish whether a contract has been legally formed or not.

Unlike a “minor” who does not have the legal capacity to enter into a contract, the intoxication of a person does not affect their legal capacity to enter into a contract (unless the person was intoxicated against their will or there were acts of fraud.

Takeaways 

Let’s look at a summary of our findings.

A contract entered into by an intoxicated person is never valid:

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