In what circumstances can a contract be annulled?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

A contract can be annulled if the person who signed it did so because of a serious mistake, as a result of deception or under violence or intimidation. It can also be annulled if it was signed by a minor beyond what the law allows them to do or by a person who acted without the support measure they needed. The time limit for applying is four years. A void contract, which has never been valid because it lacks a requirement or is contrary to the law, is a different matter. The grounds In Catalonia, as in most of the rest of Spain, the annulment of contracts is governed by the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”), because the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, has no general rules on the matter. A contract that meets all its requirements can be annulled in the following cases: Mistake. It must be serious and excusable and relate to what the thing actually is or to the conditions that led the person to sign. Regretting the contract or not having read it is not enough. Deception, which the law calls “dolo”. It must be serious, so that the contract would not have been signed without it. Withholding information that should have been disclosed is also deception. Violence or intimidation, that is, signing under force or out of a reasonable fear of serious and imminent harm, even if the threat comes from someone outside the contract. A minor who has not been emancipated signing beyond what the law allows them to do. A person with a support measure signing without that support when the measure required it. An act by one spouse without the other's consent where the law requires it, for example selling the family home. In Catalonia, the consent of a stable partner (in a “pareja estable”, the Catalan stable partnership) is also required. Annulment cannot be sought by the person who caused the mistake, deceived or intimidated, nor by the person who contracted with the minor or with the person receiving support. The time limit It is four years, in Catalonia too. Depending on the ground, the four years run from the following points, among others: For mistake or deception, from the consummation of the contract, which is generally when both parties have performed it. For violence or intimidation, from when it ceased. For contracts made by a minor, from when they come of age or are emancipated. For those made by a person who acted without the support, from the date of signing. It is best not to leave it until the last minute. Before suing, the law generally requires an attempt to reach an agreement, for example through a written proposal or mediation. Annulment is not the same as rescission, which in Catalonia allows a valid contract to be set aside because of a disproportionate price or because one party took advantage of the other. Nor is it the same as terminating the contract because the other party is in breach, or as withdrawing from it in the cases where the law allows consumers to do so. Those are different matters.