I was surprised to learn of a recent statistic indicating that about half of all singles in Toronto under age 34 are living with their parents – I thought this was just the way we do things in my family! But seriously, if you are a parent longing to cut the ties that bind, or if you just want to help your adult child get a head-start in life, you have probably considered doing so by way of a gift or loan. To avoid any confusion or worse, litigation, it is important to document the transaction and record the intention.
If the intention is to loan, a loan agreement should be used. If, however, the intention is to gift, keep in mind that to have a valid gift there are three necessary elements: (i) intention to donate; (ii) acceptance by the donee; and (iii) sufficient act of delivery and transfer. The onus of proving that a gift is valid is on the recipient of the gift, who must show a clear and unmistakable intention by the donor to have voluntarily given the gift. In order to ensure legal clarity, using a deed of gift is ideal.
The benefit of using a deed of gift is that it can provide an answer to any challenges that others may have to the transfer in question, which we often see in situations of transfers of property (bank accounts, real property etc.) into the joint names of the parent and child. Otherwise, upon death, the gift is usually presumed to form part of the parent’s estate unless proven otherwise by the child.
Other potential benefits to using a deed of gift include increasing the chances of protecting the funds upon marital breakdown (e.g. if the deed of gift stipulates that the funds are for the child alone, and not the married couple, this may prevent the monies from forming part of the family assets). It can also assist an estate trustee to correctly apply a hotchpot clause (which often requires the executor to take inter vivos gifts into account when making an equal distribution amongst the beneficiaries) and distribute the assets as the testator intended.
Thanks for reading and have a great day,
Other articles you might enjoy:
https://hullandhull.com/2017/02/can-delivery-gift-precede-intention/
https://hullandhull.com/2016/10/validity-inter-vivos-gift/
https://hullandhull.com/2015/10/mortis-causa-gifts/
You may also enjoy the July 7, 2017 interview of Nicole Ewing, a TD Wealth business succession advisor and tax and estate planner, which can be found on www.moneytalkgo.com.