Cómo Elegir el Tipo de Contrato Adecuado para tus Necesidades Legales
“Un contrato bien definido es la base de una relación sólida y duradera, sea en negocios o en la vida.” – Warren Buffett Elegir el
We provide the best legal advice in property matters to clients: individuals and companies in Guatemala.
We provide the best legal advice to clients: individuals and companies in Guatemala.
1)Promise contracts:
The promise contract is the agreement of wills by which the parties undertake to enter into, within the time period agreed upon for that purpose or, failing that, the time period specified by law, a specific, lawful and possible contract. If the obligation to enter into the future contract is reciprocal, both parties will be both promissory (who promise or offer) and promissory (whoever is promised or offered) and the promise will be bilateral. If, on the other hand, only one of the parties binds itself and the other party only has the right to demand, but not the obligation to conclude the future contract, the former, i.e., the obligor, will be a promising party, while the latter, i.e., the exempt from obligation, will be a promising or opting party. In such a case, the promise shall be unilateral in nature, optional for the promissory party.
2) Sales contracts:
The contract of sale is the agreement of wills by means of which a party, called the seller, transfers the property of a thing (movable or immovable property, credit right or intellectual right) and is obliged to deliver it in exchange for a price to be paid in money by the other party, called the buyer, who undertakes to receive it.
3) Swap contracts:
Swapping is the agreement of wills by which one party transmits to the other, the ownership of one thing, in exchange for the ownership of another thing that the latter in turn transmits to it.
In other words, it is that contract concluded between the parties and which has as its specific purpose the transfer of things or objects. That is to say, when the parties agree on the values of the things they want to exchange, they resolve to transfer their ownership to each other. Since, obviously, not all things have exactly the same value, the exchange allows the parties, when they understand it, to recognize in favor of the one who has the object of greater value a balance, which can be paid with a sum of money compensating the difference. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
4) Live donation contracts:
The donation between lives is the agreement of wills by which a person (donor), transfers the property of a thing or of all its things to another one (donee), or resigns to its favor certain credits or right that with respect to her had, with spirit of liberality; without any other cause unless it was a specific reason of gratitude by certain action made by the beneficiary, or to recognize to this one certain merits, without that there is in no case consideration in return.
5) Mutual Contracts.
The mutual agreement is the agreement of wills by means of which one of the parties, called mutual or lender, delivers to the other, called mutual or borrower, a certain amount of money (in national or foreign currency), or of fungible things, with the obligation of the latter to deliver, at the expiration of the conventional or legal term, an equal amount of the same kind and quality of that received, plus the agreed-upon interest or, failing that, the legal interest, unless it has been paid during the course of the term or it has been expressly agreed that there would be none.
6) Life annuity contracts.
The annuity contract is the agreement of wills by which one party, called the principal or the annuitant, transfers the ownership of certain assets to the other party, called the debtor or the recipient, in exchange for the payment of a periodic pension, duly secured, during the life of the annuitant, which may be the principal or a third party designated by him.
9) Lease agreements.
The lease is the agreement of wills by which one of the parties, called the lessor or lessor (or lessor, in the case of urban real estate), undertakes to deliver temporarily to the other, called the lessee (tenant or lessee) a movable or immovable thing, so that he or she may possess it in the name of the lessor and use it for the agreed purpose or in the one that is more suitable according to its nature, in exchange for the payment of a rent that he or she undertakes to pay in money or in kind.
7) Bailment contracts.
A bailment contract is an agreement of wills by which one party, called the bailee, gives to another party, called the bailee, non-expendable movable or semi-movable things, to be used free of charge for a certain purpose and for a certain period of time, and returns them without any other deterioration than that which is unavoidable, however, prudent use.
8) Deposit contracts.
The deposit contract is the agreement of wills by which one of the parties, called the depositor, gives to the other, called the trustee, personal property for the latter to keep, preserve and guard and, when the term expires or before if requested, to return it to the depositor or to the person in whose favor the deposit was made, or to whom the judge orders it.
9) Work or company contracts.
The contract of work or company, is the agreement of wills by means of which a part, called contractor, industralist or artificie, is forced to obtain a certain result, that can consist of making, constructing or executing a movable or immovable work, in accordance with the agreed specifications or, in its defect, customary, and to give it to satisfaction of the other part, denominated proprietor, capitalist or commander, who will pay in exchange for a certain price.
10) Bail Contract.
The surety agreement is the agreement of wills by which one of the parties, called the guarantor, undertakes before the other, called the creditor, to comply with the obligation of a debtor or principal, if the latter does not do so within the established term.
11) Mortgage contract.
The mortgage contract is the agreement of wills by which a party, called the mortgagor or mortgage guarantor, expressly encumbers one or more real property or rights in rem on real property, which can be sold, without losing possession, to guarantee compliance with a given principal obligation, before the other party called the mortgagee, who by accepting it, also expressly, acquires in the event of default a right of prosecution, judicial sale and preference in payment, the latter according to the place of the encumbrance in the corresponding registry entry.
12) Contrato de prenda.
The pledge agreement is the agreement of wills by which one party, called the pledgor or pledgee, expressly encumbers one or more personal property to guarantee the performance of a given obligation, before the other party, called the pledgee or pledgee, who also expressly accepts the encumbrance.
13) Transaction agreement.
The settlement agreement is the agreement of wills by means of which the parties, known as the compromisers, by means of reciprocal sacrifices of the same or of a different nature and amount, resolve some matter of interest to both parties about which, due to lack of certainty, they had a disagreement or about which an extrajudicial or judicial controversy had already arisen.
Article 2151 of the Guatemalan Civil Code with respect to this contract states "The transaction is a contract by which the parties, by means of reciprocal concessions, decide by common agreement a doubtful or litigious point, avoid the lawsuit that could be promoted or finish the one that is already started".
14) Modification contracts: corrections, additions and clarifications.
15) Real estate unification contracts.
By means of the real estate unification contract, a person who owns two or more real estate properties, which are contiguous or adjacent, proceeds to unite them so that they become a single real estate property, with a single surface area.
16) Mutual guarantee agreements with mortgage guarantee
This contract is made when a person (creditor) gives to another, usually, a certain amount of money to another (debtor) with the order to be returned, characterized by the fact that the debtor leaves as a guarantee a real estate (land).
17) Mutual guarantee agreements
This contract is made when a person (creditor) gives to another, usually, a certain amount of money to another (debtor) with the order to be returned, characterized by the fact that the debtor leaves as security a movable property (vehicle).
18) Mutual guarantee agreements
This contract is made when one person (creditor) gives to another, generally, a certain amount of money to another (debtor) with the order that it be returned, characterized by the fact that the debtor proposes a third person (guarantor) for the performance of the obligation.
19) Easement contracts.
Easement constitutes the right to transit through another's property, to have an exit from one's own property to a public road or path, or as a personal acquired right. The passage can be on foot, by horse or by vehicle, according to the needs and the conventional ones.
Title IV, Chapter III of the Civil Code regulates easements, and article 786 of the Civil Code establishes that "The owner of a property located among others that has no exit to the public road, or that cannot be procured without excessive expense or difficulty, has the right to demand passage through the neighboring properties, for the use and exploitation of the same property", this refers to the right that a person has to go out on the public highway so that when he lacks this possibility due to necessity, he must be granted a right of passage through the neighboring properties, so as not to violate his right to free locomotion. Consequently, the person favored with the easement, that is, the owner of the dominant property, must pay economic compensation. In this regard, Article 787 of the Civil Code establishes that "compensation shall always be equivalent to the value of the land needed and the damage caused by the encumbrance"; it is necessary to take into account that the compensation is not only limited to the payment of the price of the land used, but also the encumbrances that may be caused by its use.
20) Debt recognition contracts.
Any capable person may acknowledge that he or she is in debt to another. If the amount of the debt exceeds three hundred quetzals, the contract must be concluded in writing with the appearance of the debtor and the creditor, who shall indicate the amount of the debt, the stipulation or not of interest, the form and place of payment. Among others.
The acknowledgement of a debt does not constitute a mutual agreement, but it can come from such an agreement or from any other legal transaction that is lawful and possible that the person who acknowledges the debt and the person in favor of whom it is acknowledged, may have entered into previously. For example, it could be the balance of the price of a sale or exchange, the amount of damages caused, the amount of fees of a professional services contract, the amount of expenses and emoluments of a deposit contract, among others.
21) Contract for the constitution of co-ownership.
There is co-ownership when a thing or an economic right belongs, proindiviso, to two or more persons. The co-owners do not have dominion over specific parts of the thing, but a right of ownership over each and every part of the thing in a certain proportion, that is, over an aliquot part.
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