Also known as: donees · grantee · recipient
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A person who receives a gift of property from a donor. Delivery with intent to pass title completes the transfer to the donee.
A person who receives a gift of property from a donor. Delivery with intent to pass title completes the transfer to the donee.
Devon Drake signed a deed identifying Daniel Diaz as grantee and describing the parcel. Devon delivered the signed writing to Daniel with intent to pass title. Daniel accepted the deed. Title passed to the donee upon acceptance.
A client offered to name her lawyer as donee of a substantial testamentary gift in her will. The lawyer declined to prepare the instrument. The rule bars the lawyer from serving as donee unless the lawyer is related to the client.
The person upon whom a power of appointment is conferred or reserved. The donee may exercise the power to direct disposition of appointive property to permissible objects.
A grant created an estate in fee tail in Darius Dixon as first donee. The statute converted the limitation into a fee simple absolute in the issue of the donee. The donee held the converted estate.
The person upon whom a power of appointment is conferred or reserved. The donee may exercise the power to direct disposition of appointive property to permissible objects.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A seller told buyer Diego Duarte that the property had no encumbrances. The seller knew the statement would induce the buyer to assent. The buyer as donee relied on the misrepresentation and signed the contract. The contract is voidable by the donee.
A publisher sent a letter to recipient Dolores Diaz stating that a local merchant sold defective goods. The recipient understood the defamatory meaning. The donee suffered reputational harm from the publication.
David Dawson accepted possession of electronics from a third party. Dawson knew the items had been stolen by the third party. The donee intended to deprive the true owner of the property permanently. The donee committed the common-law misdemeanor.
A donee is either the recipient of a gift or the holder of a power of appointment. The first sense focuses on completed transfers by deed or delivery. The second sense concerns the powerholder who may direct appointive property.
Yes. Acceptance by the grantee-donee is required along with delivery and intent to pass title. Without acceptance the deed does not transfer title even if other formalities are met.
No. Model Rule 1.8(c) prohibits a lawyer from preparing an instrument that gives the lawyer or a related person a substantial gift from a client unless the lawyer or recipient is related to the client.
The donor creates or reserves the power. The donee is the person upon whom the power is conferred and who may exercise it to appoint property to objects designated by the donor.
…Grand Central Terminal. See Marcus, Air Rights Transfers in New York City, 36 Law & Contemp. Prob. 372, 375 (1971). The class of recipient lots was expanded to include lots “across a street and opposite to another lot or lots which except for the intervention of streets or street intersections f[or]m a series extending to the…