Gifts - Video 2

Question 1

Sick man asks nurse to give insurance policy to girlfriend, nurse does not. Is there a valid gift?

Answer 1

No, because we have intent but we do not have delivery.

Question 2

Sick man asks that dresser be moved into girlfriend’s bedroom. Dresser is so moved. Does girlfriend get the insurance policy in the dresser?

Answer 2

It seems that we have intent for her to have the dresser and constructive delivery of the dresser. We have full on actual delivery because it is moved into her room. We don’t have evidence of intent. And that one fails as well.

Question 3

Sick man says, “I want to give you my dresser and my insurance policy inside of it. Here’s the key.” Valid gifts?

Answer 3

Usually as we said we don’t see constructive delivery of such a small item but here we’ve got the contents of the dresser enumerated and we’ve got intent and constructive delivery. There is a decent chance here. There is a chance that the court, like in Newman might say it has to be physically handed over, but I think we’ve got the best chance here in number 3 of having valid gifts. Certainly the dresser is a valid gift, and maybe the insurance policy depending upon the court.

Question 4

Newman v. Bost: The housekeeper/ girlfriend case
The Court seeks to deter gifts causa mortis and promote utilization of the State of Wills. Wills have a witnessing requirement, and thus offer more protection against fraud than oral gifts.

True or False

Answer 4

True

Question 5

When you have an oral gift, it is difficult to prove what the decedent’s intent was. But if you have a ________ ________ that has been witnessed then it is a lot easier to discern what the decedent wanted with their property distribution.

Answer 5

written will