DEED OF GIFT

Have you ever sat down to wonder what your beneficiary stand to gain from the Will you will leave behind. Sometimes the purported Will you left for your beneficiaries get contested and thrown out. Your beneficiary will be left with nothing.

There is good news for you! You can give out your properties to your children, wife, or even friends while you are still alive and the gift will not be contested in anyway even when you are no more!

It is called a Deed of Gift.

There are various ways through which you can transfer a property that you own. It could be by way of sale, Will or gift. A commonly used method, especially when transferring to a family member or friend, is executing a Deed of Gift in favour of the recipient or beneficiary.

What is Deed of Gift?

A Deed of Gift is the transfer of movable and immovable property from one person (Donor) to another (Donee or Beneficiary).  Like a Deed of Sale, a Deed of Gift contains details of the property, the transferor or the Donor and recipient or Donee. But instead of a sale consideration in a Deed of Sale, a Deed of Gift allows you to transfer ownership without any exchange of money. Though no monetary transaction is involved, it is necessary to register the gift deed to make the transfer valid

A deed of gift is often made as an alternative to other legal transactions for the transfer of property. Most often, the reason behind this is that the parties would use the specifics of this agreement to avoid the burden imposed by other legal transactions.

In conclusion Once a Deed of Gift of an immovable property is executed in favour of any recipient or beneficiary, the donor does not have the right to revoke or cancel the deed at a later stage, unless there is a specific clause mentioned in the deed. For instance, if the property was gifted so that the recipient can reside in it, upon death of the recipient, the property will get transferred back to the donor if she is alive, else to the heirs of the recipient. Such details, however, need to be specifically mentioned in the gift deed.