During the Holiday season, gift giving is a common practice between friends and family or through a secret Santa at the office. However, it is generally a rude practice to refuse a gift if you do not like it. Fortunately, in the case of an inheritance or a gift in a will, it is perfectly acceptable to refuse or disclaim an inheritance.

There can be many reasons why a beneficiary may want to refuse an intended gift. Whatever those may be, the beneficiary need only refuse the gift in a timely fashion before receiving any benefit or otherwise dealing with the gifted property.

Once a gift is refused, it is deemed never to have been given and forms part of the residue of an estate.

Disclaiming an inheritance can occur through contract, deed, in writing, or informally by conduct. However, the disclaimer would have to occur before the intended beneficiary interacts with the intended gift.

Although the legal requirements for disclaiming an inheritance come from several cases dating to nineteenth century, the case of Re Moss, (1977) B.C.J. 1214 summarizes the concepts well.

The case involves an elderly man being excluded from his local parish for some perceived immoral behaviour. The man died shortly after, not having changed his will, and left everything to the parish that disavowed him. After some consideration, the parish leaders ultimately decided to disclaim the inheritance on the basis that it would be improper for them to accept such a gift from a former member of the parish.

The parish leaders’ refusal was challenged in court. However, the disclaimer was upheld on the grounds that parish leaders appropriately refused the gift and that nothing more was required on their part. In its decision, the court relied on the case of Townson v. Tickell (1819), 106 E.R. 575 noting that an estate cannot be forced onto a person and that there was no need to demonstrate that a gift had not been accepted.