Questions regarding minors and contracts.

Factual Questions
1

I know that minors can enter contracts legally but other parties will most likely not enter into them seeing as how a minor can terminate it with no repercussion.

But I was wondering, how exactly do the proceedings work when a guardian signs a contract on behalf of the minor?

For instance, say… a minor wants to buy X house for 10 dollars*, he wants to take out a loan with a company for 9 dollars, and pay a down payment of 1 dollar. The minor is 17 years old or so, say if the parent has good credit history, and the minor has decent (maybe a single credit card with complete payments), what happens when the parent signs a contract “on behalf” of the minor?

Does this contract transfer to the minor when he becomes of majority age? Is it already in the minors name? Say the 17 year old grows up paying a dollar a year on that 10 dollar house, after he’s 18, would the house be in his name? Or would it be in the guardian’s name still?

This is mostly just outta curiosity, no pressing need for real legal advice, appreciate any answers though.

*10 dollars for simplicity.

2

Since no one has attempted to answer, I’ll give it a shot, but first the obligatory disclaimer: IANAL.

I doubt any mortgage company would enter a mortgage signed by the guardian “on behalf of” a minor. Anything close to it would effectively be a binding agreement between the mortgage company and the guardian - the minor would have no standing. The guardian could sell/transfer ownership to the new 18 year old, but couldn’t assign the mortgage without the mortgage company’s approval (which would be dependent solely on the 18 year old’s credit-worthiness, not the guardian).

Once an adult, “co-signing” becomes an option, but the guardian would still be entirely liable for the mortgage, should the new adult default. And the guardian would a have a say in the disposition of the property.

But don’t take my word for it.