Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A party who owes performance of a duty or payment of an obligation to another under a contract, mortgage, support order, or security agreement.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
6
Storm Closes Delivery Route
Owen Ortega agreed to deliver goods daily to Olivia Owens along a mountain pass that both knew was the sole direct route. An avalanche caused an official indefinite closure. After forty-five days Owen ceased performance. The closure discharged Owen's duty as obligor under the contract terms.
Support Modification Jurisdiction
Orion Orlov owed child support under a State H order. After moving to State J he petitioned State J for modification. The child and obligee still resided in State H. State H retained continuing exclusive jurisdiction because it was the residence of the obligee and child at filing.
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Statutes
Uniform Acts
Model Codes
Restatements
Casebooks
Hornbooks
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Study Supplements
Otis Olsen paid the full mortgage obligation owed by Olga O'Neill to the lender. The payment occurred without any agreement discharging the debt. Otis became the subrogee entitled to enforce the mortgage and obligation against the original obligor Olga.
Servitude Burden on Land
Oceanview Properties created a servitude requiring maintenance of a shared driveway. The original obligor held the burdened parcel. A successor could perform the maintenance more reasonably than the original obligor after transfer. The burden therefore ran with the land as appurtenant.
Negotiable Note Waiver Term
Overland Transport issued a promissory note containing a waiver of any law protecting the obligor. The note otherwise met all requirements for negotiability. The waiver clause did not destroy negotiability under the statute.
Temporary Flood Suspends Duty
Orbit Communications contracted to provide satellite service. A flood made performance temporarily impossible for six weeks. After the flood receded performance was not materially more burdensome. The duty of the obligor was suspended during the flood but not discharged.
Common questions
Frequently Asked
5
When does an event discharge an obligor's contractual duty?+
An event discharges the obligor's duty if the contract terms provide that its occurrence will terminate immediate performance or the duty to pay damages. Discharge occurs unless the event results from the obligor's breach of good faith or the obligor assumed the risk.
Supporting sources
How does temporary impracticability affect an obligor's duty?+
Temporary impracticability or frustration suspends the obligor's duty while the condition exists. The duty revives once the condition ends unless resumed performance would be materially more burdensome than originally contemplated.
Supporting sources
When does a state retain continuing exclusive jurisdiction to modify a child-support order against an obligor?+
A state retains continuing exclusive jurisdiction if it issued the controlling order and remains the residence of the obligor, the individual obligee, or the child at the time a modification request is filed. Jurisdiction also continues if the parties consent in a record.
Supporting sources
What is the effect of subrogation on the original obligor in a mortgage transaction?+
When a payor performs the obligation secured by a mortgage the payor becomes the subrogee by operation of law. The original obligor remains liable on the obligation but the subrogee steps into the mortgagee's position to enforce both the mortgage and the debt.
Supporting sources
How is the burden of a servitude classified when the original obligor transfers the burdened property?+
The burden is appurtenant if a successor to the original obligor's property interest can perform it more reasonably than the original obligor after transfer. It is in gross if the original obligor can perform it more reasonably or held no burdened property at creation.
Supporting sources
supra, 436 U.S., at 94-95Family Law
…claiming support from a nonresident to file a petition in California and have its merits adjudicated in the State of the alleged obligor's residence, without either party's having to leave his or her own State. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code Ann. § 1650 et seq. (West 1972 and Supp. 1978).[^maj-13] New York State is a signatory to a…