Fraud in the conclusion of a transaction

Fraud within the meaning of Article 29(1) of the Bulgarian Obligations and Contracts Act (ЗЗД) means deliberately misleading someone in order to induce them to enter into a particular transaction. The deception is intended to create or strengthen the motives that lead the person to express their will on a false basis. The resulting misconception may concern the terms of the transaction or the person’s own reasons for entering into it. A party’s ill health has no independent legal significance in this respect. However, a diminished ability to assess facts, even without any impairment or loss of mental capacity in the legal sense, susceptibility to suggestion and similar states of mind can make it easier for a false impression to take hold. It is the false impression itself that vitiates consent, rather than the circumstances that gave rise to it or made it easier to induce. A transaction concluded with this defect of consent is voidable.

To avoid unlawful conduct when entering into a transaction, a lawyer should safeguard the rights and interests of the party who has retained them.

This article is not a legal opinion or advice on any particular situation or person. For help with an individual case, consult a lawyer.