Death Bed Gifts

There is an ancient but little known legal doctrine which says that a gift made by a person immediately before he dies and in anticipation of his death, will be valid. Land can be given away in this manner. That doctrine has recently been tested in the Court of Appeal at the request of two animal charities, Red Wings Horse Sanctuary and The Chiltern Dog Rescue Society, to whom a Mrs Fairbrother, who was well known for her love of animals, had left her estate in her Will. After she had died in 2011 her nephew claimed that she had given her house to him shortly before her death and that gift was valid as it was made immediately before her death and in anticipation of it. If that was right, then neither the horse sanctuary nor the dog rescue society would have received anything by virtue of Mrs Fairbrother's Will. The two charities challenged the gift through the Courts and in early June 2015 the Court of Appeal decided that the alleged gift was invalid because it couldn't be said that Mrs Fairbrother was contemplating her impending death at the time she purportedly gave the house to her nephew. That being the case, the two charities received the bulk of Mrs Fairbrother's estate. However, the legal principle remains intact. A gift will be valid if it is made by a person while he believes he is going to die and he parts with the gift or delivers it in some way to the recipient and he thereafter dies. If that happens then the asset or property which the deceased gave away immediately before his death will not of course form part of his estate and will not pass under the terms of his Will. For more information about this issue or about any inheritance dispute please contact Nick lambert on 01142666 660 or at [email protected]