Also known as: donation inter vivos · donationes inter vivos · inter vivos gift · inter vivos donation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An irrevocable transfer of property made during the donor's lifetime to a living donee without consideration. The transfer must be completed with delivery and acceptance to take effect immediately rather than at death.
Evelyn executed a will devising her downtown building to grandson Leo. Two years later she deeded Leo a suburban duplex and handed him a letter stating the gift reduced his share under the will. Leo signed the letter acknowledging receipt. After Evelyn died the residuary beneficiaries asserted that the duplex satisfied the downtown-building devise in part.
A taxpayer received funds from a trust distribution and argued the transfer constituted a completed donatio inter vivos rather than taxable income. The court examined whether the donor had relinquished all dominion during life and whether the recipient had accepted the property outright.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A debtor transferred assets to a family member shortly before filing. The trustee contended the transfer was a donatio inter vivos that removed property from the estate. The court assessed whether delivery occurred while both parties were alive and whether the transfer lacked any retained interest by the donor.
A contemporaneous writing by the testator stating that the gift reduces the devise or a written acknowledgment by the devisee that the gift operates in satisfaction satisfies the requirement. The writing must be made at the time of the transfer.
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Both require a writing showing the transfer should be taken into account at death. An advancement applies only when the recipient is an heir at the decedent's death and reduces the intestate share. Satisfaction applies to a devise under a will.
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The signature alone does not create the gift. Delivery of the property and the donor's intent to transfer ownership immediately must also be present. The writing merely supplies evidence that the gift counts against a later devise or share.
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…upholding federal estate taxes imposed, not upon the beneficiary but upon the decedent's estate. A tax upon the donor of an inter vivos gift was held to be an indirect tax in Bromley v. McCaughn , 280 U.S. 124, 135-138, 50 S.Ct. 46, 74 L.Ed. 226 (1929). If a tax on giving property is indirect, so would be a tax on receiving it,…