A contract contains a 'time is of the essence' clause and a party misses the deadline. The likely result is that the breach is:

• A. Minor and excused.
• B. Material and may excuse performance.
• C. Automatically terminates the contract.
• D. Only affects performance temporarily.

Answer: (B)

When time is of the essence, timely performance becomes a central, essential term of the contract. Missing the deadline in that context is treated as a material breach because the timing itself is a key part of what was promised. A material breach by a party who misses the deadline gives the other party the right to treat the contract as breached and to suspend or terminate performance, and to seek damages if appropriate. The breach isn’t seen as merely a trivial delay, and it isn’t automatically a total termination unless the non-breaching party elects to terminate after the breach. It also isn’t something that only affects performance temporarily in this context, since the essential timing term makes the delay significant.