Enurement clause definition is where something takes place or has an effect, while inure means to bring by habit, continuous exercise, or use to a specific state of mind or condition, or the endurance of a specific condition. Enure is often written as inure, and an example of it is saying a new tax will ensure to the advantage of all the residents of Madison County. An inurement clause is a document that's legal, such as a will or contract, and extends the document's benefits past their signatories.

Private Inurement Doctrine

A private inurement doctrine is another private advantage rule, applying to public charities. The doctrine is from section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code that states that only organizations who have no part of the net earnings that are inured to the benefit of the individual or private shareholder can be exempt. The inurement or restriction is absolute, and incidental private inurement is not allowed. The private inurement doctrine is stricter in rules than the private benefit doctrine, which applies to anyone.

An individual or private shareholder is someone who has a private and personal interest in the organization's activities. The private inurement doctrine often applies to those who are insiders, which means people in a position to control or influence the use of the assets for their own personal gain. This includes the following:

  • Directors
  • Founders
  • Officers

Public charities should understand that the private inurement doctrine doesn't stop the organization from having transactions with insiders. However, it does prevent an uneven share of benefits from being provided by the organization to an insider, no matter if the inurement is $2 or $2,000. Violations of private inurement may occur where compensation is arranged with an insider that has no upper limit, an arrangement is based off outside factors to benefit the organization, and if the net or gross earnings are used to provide services and goods to insiders.

The provisions of the agreement shouldn't be ignored. The language might seem similar every time the clauses are read, but there are small differences that will end up making an impact on how the acquisition transaction documents or commercial agreement is interpreted. The documents can be long, so it's easy to not pay attention to this and have your eyes glaze over by the end. Words such as "waiver," "arbitration," "amendment," "severability," and "assignment" may seem similar, but you need to make sure you understand what their meaning is in someone else's contract.

Clauses are often standard or boilerplate and have repeated language. If you don't understand the small nuances in the contract, it can work either for you or against you. Having a checklist of what should be included in a standard contract is smart so you can compare it to any agreements that are sent to you. For example, make sure that you're not changing the agreement each time you talk about it. If amendments are made, they need to be done in writing and signed by every party.

A person or company should have the ability to assign a contract to an acquiring company or holding company they own. Often in contracts, only one party is able to assign the agreement. When the enurement clause is together with the assignment clause, it extends all benefits of the contract to the successors or assigns when it's correctly drafted. This means the successor's estate is able to benefit from the contract. If there's an assign, merging or acquiring third parties would benefit from the contract.

The waiver clause maintains your rights in case you were too relaxed about having your contract enforced and the counterparty tried to say that the contract is more flexible now. The legal concept that repeating or continuing waiver of a specific right can be interpreted into an intentional relinquishment if known as the doctrine of waiver. This should be prevented with a no waiver clause that states your rights won't be diminished just because you're being nice.

If there are any ongoing expenses that can come from an agreement negotiation, there should be a costs clause to make clear which party will pay for the continuous legal expense.

If you need help with enurement clause definition, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb