Consider the fact that a resulting trust will not apply just because you later change your mind.
In the recent decision of Hertendy v Gault, 2020 ONSC 7555, the Superior Court of Justice confirmed that in a situation where a parent transfers property to an adult child, the principles of a resulting trust do not apply in cases where the transfer is a true gift.
In this case, the mother, Ms. Hertendy, was seeking summary judgement against the daughter, Ms. Gault, to recover legal ownership of land in Smiths Falls (the “Property”). The Court found that the mother had agreed to and did transfer the Property as a gift to the daughter in April 2012, with the stipulation that the mother would retain a life interest in the Property and that the daughter and her husband would help pay for the on-going household expenses of the Property.
While the mother argued that there was no payment or consideration for this transfer (among other things), the daughter argued that the transfer was done for consideration, namely, the promise to help pay for the on-going expenses when requested to do so by the mother.
Among other things, the Court considered the fact that in the mother’s Will, dated 2011, the Property was to be transferred to the daughter after her death. In 2017, the mother removed her daughter from the Will and stated to Mr. Greenall (her other daughter) that she “changed her mind about transferring the home”.
The Court confirmed that the presumption of a resulting trust will apply to gratuitous transfers and where a transfer is made for no consideration, the onus is on the transferee to demonstrate that the gift was intended. Quoting Pecore v Pecore, 2007 SCC 17, the Court noted that “the focus in any dispute over a gratuitous transfer is the actual intention of the transferor at the time of the transfer…The presumption will only determine the result where there is insufficient evidence to rebut it on a balance of probabilities.”
As such, the issue in this case was whether, at the material time the mother intended the transfer. The Court considered whether any person would gift their home to someone (even family) in return for a vague pledge of assistance for payment of expenses. The Court found that in this case, the fact that the mother signed the transfer document, she intended to sign the document, she received a benefit from signing the document (even though the benefit was modest compared to the value of the Property), and she paid the lawyer for the transfer, was sufficient to uphold the gift. The court also pointed out that the mother made no complaints about the transfer until at least three years later and her explanation for doing so was that “in hindsight [she] should have asked more questions.”
Thank you for reading.