Also known as: inter vivos gifts · inter-vivos gift · intervivos gift · lifetime gift
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A voluntary transfer of property to another without compensation made during the donor's lifetime. Completion requires donative intent, delivery, and acceptance by the donee, after which the transfer is irrevocable.
Imran Iyer executes a will devising 500 shares of stock to Ilana Isaacs. One month later Imran transfers 300 shares to Ilana and writes a note stating the transfer should count against the devise. After Imran's death the personal representative applies the transfer to reduce the devise by the shares already received.
Isaac Irving transfers a valuable painting to his daughter Isabelle Inman two years before filing bankruptcy. The trustee claims the transfer was fraudulent. The court examines whether the transfer met the elements of a completed inter vivos gift at the time it occurred.
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Ivan Ivanov hands his classic car keys and title to Ike Ingram after signing the documents. Ike accepts and registers the vehicle. When Ivan later seeks return of the car the court holds the completed delivery and acceptance prevent revocation.
Isabelle Inman receives a parcel of land from her father during his lifetime. The father's will later conditions another bequest on religious observance. The court treats the earlier land transfer as an absolute inter vivos gift separate from the will's conditional provisions.
The elements are donative intent by the donor, delivery of the property to the donee, and acceptance by the donee. Once these are satisfied the gift is irrevocable.
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An inter vivos gift is made without regard to impending death and is irrevocable once completed. A gift causa mortis is made in contemplation of imminent death and is revocable if the donor survives the anticipated peril.
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The gift adeems the devise if the testator indicated in a contemporaneous writing or the devisee acknowledged in writing that the gift was intended to operate in satisfaction of the devise.
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Acceptance is presumed when the gift is beneficial to the donee. The donee may refuse the gift but silence or retention typically suffices to complete the transfer.
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…marry a Jewish girl as the condition of a completed gift. But it is not true that if Dr. Shapira had agreed to make his son an inter-vivos gift if he married a Jewish girl within seven years, that his son could have forced him to make the gift free of the condition. It is noted, furthermore, in this connection, that the courts of…