Also known as: donations · donate · donates · donated · donating · donatio · donative · donator · donators · donatarius · donatory · gift · donor · donee · donatio mortis causa
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A gratuitous transfer of property to another without consideration. The transfer may be inter vivos or testamentary.
Dorothy Daniels, an elderly client, asks her lawyer to draft a will leaving her vacation home to the lawyer's spouse. The lawyer declines to prepare the instrument because the recipient is not related to Dorothy within the permitted degrees. The attempted gift fails to take effect through the lawyer's drafting.
Denise Donovan receives a painting from her aunt during marriage. Because the transfer is a gift from a third party to Denise alone, the painting is classified as her individual property rather than marital property subject to division.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Dylan Duffy receives $50,000 from his father during the father's lifetime. The father records in a contemporaneous writing that the sum is an advancement. Upon the father's intestate death, the amount is deducted from Dylan's intestate share before final distribution to the heirs.
Daniel Diaz forges documents to convince a donor that Damian Decker has already received an intended bequest. The donor revokes the gift. Decker recovers damages from Diaz for the value of the inheritance he would otherwise have obtained.
Doris Duffy's will devises Blackacre, a parcel she does not own. Extrinsic evidence shows the description matches Whiteacre, which she does own, and confirms her intent to pass Whiteacre. The court construes the will to transfer Whiteacre rather than allowing the gift to fail.
Dakota Industries' CEO gives an engagement ring to his fiancée. When the planned marriage does not occur, the ring must be returned because it was given in contemplation of marriage and the condition failed.
A gift or disposition at death made by a third person to one spouse alone qualifies as individual property. The transfer must be directed solely to that spouse and not to both spouses jointly.
The decedent must have declared in a contemporaneous writing, or the heir must have acknowledged in writing, that the gift is an advancement. The writing must also indicate that the gift is to be taken into account in computing the division of the estate.
The lawyer may prepare the instrument only when the lawyer or other recipient is related to the client within the permitted degrees, including a spouse, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, or other relative or individual with whom the lawyer or client maintains a close familial relationship.
A person who by fraud, duress, or other tortious means intentionally prevents another from receiving an inheritance or gift that would otherwise have been received is subject to liability for the loss of that inheritance or gift.
Most jurisdictions treat engagement gifts, including rings, as conditioned on the subsequent ceremonial marriage. If the marriage does not occur, the gifts must be returned to the donor.
…Systems 2 (1988); cf. M. Cicero, De Officiis 57 (W. Miller transl. 1913) (“For since the reproductive instinct is by nature’s gift the common possession of all living creatures, the first bond of union is that between husband and wife; the next, that between parents and children; then we find one home, with everything…