gift

A gift, in the law of property, is the voluntary and immediate transfer of property from one person (the donor or grantor) to another (the donee or grantee) without consideration. There are several type of gifts in property law, most notably inter vivos gifts which are made in the donor's lifetime and causa mortis (deathbed) gifts which are made in expectation of the donor's imminent death. Both types of gifts share three elements which must be met in order for the gift to be legally effective: donative intent (the intention of the donor to give the gift to the donee), the delivery of the gift to the donee, and the acceptance of the gift. In addition to those elements, causa mortis gifts require that the donor must die of the impending peril that he or she had contemplated when making the gift. Inter vivos gifts An inter vivos gift is an ordinary gift of personal property from one living person to another. It can be a gift of a present or future interest in a property. The three elements of an inter vivos gift are donative intent, delivery, and acceptance. The rules governing these elements were historically rigid but in recent years courts have become more lenient in their application by ignoring or circumventing the formal delivery requirement and elevating the importance of donative intent. Acceptance of a valuable gift is typically presumed by courts and thus is rarely a legal issue. Donative intent The donor of the gift must have a present intent to make a gift of the property to the donee. A promise to make a gift in the future is unenforceable, and legally meaningless, even if the promise is accompanied by a present transfer of the physical property in question. Suppose, for example, that a man gives a woman a ring and tells her that it is for her next birthday and to hold on to it until then. The man has not made a gift, and could legally demand the ring back at any time before the woman's birthday because an immediate transfer has not occurred. In contrast, suppose a man gives a woman a deed and tells her it will be in her best interest if the deed stays in his safe-deposit box. The man has made a gift and would be unable to legally reclaim it because he has given her a present interest in the deed.