“Come Hell or High Water” at the Movies

Over the weekend, I caught the recently released movie, Hell or High Water. Both “contract law” and “elder law” figure into the plot.  Warning: Spoilers ahead — so don’t keep reading if you don’t want to know.

The timeless and yet still “modern” plot — with sons trying to save the family homestead from the bank — has a few good West Texas twists (although the movie was mostly filmed in my old stomping grounds of New Mexico).  I enjoyed the play on words with the title of the movie from a legal perspective.  The bank’s “reverse mortgage” on the homestead has a payoff clause that bars any excuses for nonpayment, such as Acts of God or other hardships.  In legal circles such clauses have are called “come hell or high water” terms, rejecting any “force majeur” excuses for late payments.  So the brothers are up against the clock. Can they steal enough from the very bank conglomerate that made the loan in order for them to get the mortgage paid off by the deadline?  Good character actors abound, including two waitresses who steal the scenes in small town diners and Jeff Bridges at the other end of a Texas journey he began 45 years ago with The Last Picture Show.

The reverse mortgage is the elder law part of the plot.  The movie hints the aging mother was loaned just $25,000 on the homestead (where oil may be found) — enough to be difficult to pay off (especially with taxes and fees), but not enough money to truly save her from her debts.   While the plot stretches the realities of reverse mortgages, in truth such mortgages are typically very high cost loans, and are not easily refinanced.