Also known as: gift inter vivos · inter vivos gift · inter vivos gifts
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A gratuitous transfer of personal property made voluntarily by a living donor to a donee without consideration. The transfer must be presently effective upon delivery and acceptance rather than taking effect at a future time or upon death.
Martin executed a will leaving his nephew Leo a $200,000 cash devise. Years later Martin transferred marketable securities worth $200,000 into a brokerage account in Leo's name and included a signed memo stating the investment stood in place of the inheritance. After Martin's death the personal representative treated the securities as satisfying the cash devise in full.
Giselle Guerrero attempted to give her antique desk to her nephew Gregory Gates by signing a deed of gift but never physically delivered the desk or a key to it. After Giselle's death Gregory claimed the desk as an inter vivos gift, but the court held that the absence of delivery prevented the transfer from taking effect.
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Donative intent, delivery that transfers ownership, and acceptance by the donee are required. Acceptance is presumed for valuable gifts but can be defeated by an express refusal.
Supporting sources
The gift adeems the devise by satisfaction in whole or in part when the testator indicates in a contemporaneous writing that the gift is to operate in that manner or the devisee acknowledges the same in writing.
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A devisee's written acknowledgment that the gift operates in satisfaction satisfies the requirement even without a testator writing, provided the acknowledgment is made in connection with the transfer.
Supporting sources
…in, or right to distribution of, the sperm; it was gifted to her at the time of its deposit into the sperm bank and is either an inter vivos gift or a gift causa mortis. Hecht also maintained that even if the semen is an asset of the estate, the estate should be directed to distribute it to her because (1) the parties entered into a…