legal-terms
The meaning of the word until - exclusive or inclusive
<p>So I realize now that I probably should have clarified this at the time, but in my divorce agreement, I am obligated to make a payment monthly, &quot;until September 1, 2021&quot;. I read this as &quot;up to but not including September 1&quot;, meaning that my last payment would be in August, where September 1 is the first day that I am no longer obligated to make monthly payments. However, in plain english, this might be ambiguous. I would think that there's a definitive answer for this when speaking legally.</p>

<p>The default meaning is <a href="https://dictionary.thelaw.com/until/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">exclusive</a>, but this can be overridden if a contrary intent of the parties is evident. However, the actual textual context (of the agreement) is not irrelevant, e.g. the actual sentence that it appears in. Additionally, there are obscure dialect difference that could be relevant, so I assume standard US or UK English.</p>
<p>Given the full sentence in which &quot;until&quot; appears, the intended meaning (over-elaborated) is &quot;However, if the Husband vacates the apartment prior to September 1, 2021 he shall be obligated to pay to the Wife only the monthly rent which is owed for the period prior to September 1, 2021&quot;. The recurring obligation is for occupancy of the apartment, so if you have moved before the 1st, the obligation is finished with the last month's payment, presumably remitted in August. Clearly, you do not have to keep paying monthly rent every day up to Sept. 1, so &quot;until&quot; refers to the termination of the rent obligation.</p>
