If an owner of a Cream franchise is an individual, must their spouse consent to the guaranty?
Cream Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
If you are a legal business entity, each of your direct and indirect owners with a 10% or greater ownership interest in you must execute a guaranty in the form personally to be bound, jointly and severally, by all provisions of the Franchise Agreement and any ancillary agreements between you and us. Our current form of guaranty is attached as Attachment D to the Franchise Agreement. If any owner is an individual, his or her spouse must consent in writing to that owner's execution of the guaranty.
Source: Item 15 — OBLIGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ACTUAL OPERATION OF THE FRANCHISE BUSINESS (FDD pages 42–43)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Cream's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, if an owner of the franchise is an individual, their spouse must provide written consent to the owner's execution of the guaranty. This requirement is part of the agreement where owners with a 10% or greater ownership interest in a legal business entity must execute a guaranty, binding them personally to the Franchise Agreement. The current form of guaranty is included as Attachment D to the Franchise Agreement.
This spousal consent ensures that the assets of the marital estate can be bound to the performance of the guaranty. The FDD confirms that a spouse signing the Guaranty solely as a spouse is doing so to acknowledge the execution of the Guaranty by their spouse and to bind the marital estate's assets, not to bind the spouse's separate property.
Cream also includes a representation and warranty in their guaranty agreement. If there is no signature from the guarantor's spouse, the guarantor represents that they are either not married or reside in a state that does not require spousal consent to encumber marital assets. This clause protects Cream in cases where spousal consent may not be legally required.