Opinion ID: 1493753
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Inter vivos gifts.

Text: Mr. Stefan contends that in this case, the foregoing presumption has been rebutted by evidence that Mrs. Walker made him an inter vivos gift of the money in the joint account. The burden of proving that a transfer was an inter vivos gift is upon the party asserting the gift, and when the gift is asserted after the donor has died, it must be established by clear and convincing evidence. [11] Davis, supra, 492 A.2d at 885. The question before us is whether the trial judge correctly ruled, as a matter of law, that viewing the record in the light most favorable to Mr. Stefan, Mr. Stefan has failed to prove a gift by clear and convincing evidence. The essential elements of an inter vivos gift are donative intent, delivery, and acceptance.... In order to prove donative intent, it must be shown from the evidence that the donor clearly and unmistakably intended to permanently relinquish all interest in and control over the gift. Ross v. Fierro, 659 A.2d 234, 239 (D.C. 1995) (emphasis in original; citations and internal quotation marks omitted). In order to have a valid inter vivos gift, the donor must have an intent to make a present, absolute, and irrevocable transfer of the property to the donee. 15 RICHARD R. POWELL & MICHAEL ALLAN WOLF, POWELL ON REAL PROPERTY § 85.21[1], at 85-409 (2000) (emphasis added). Applying these principles to the creation of a joint bank account, the difficulty in proving the elements of an inter vivos gift become readily apparent. In Murray v. Gadsden, 91 U.S.App. D.C. 38, 197 F.2d 194 (1952), a joint account case, the court stated: The requisites of a valid gift inter vivos are delivery, intention on the part of the donor to make a gift, and absolute disposition of the subject of the gift. Harrington v. Emmerman, 1950, 88 U.S.App. D.C. 23, 186 F.2d 757; Cashman v. Mason, 8 Cir., 1948, 166 F.2d 693; Lust v. Miller, 1925, 55 App. D.C. 217, 4 F.2d 293. In Lee v. Lee, 1925, 55 App.D.C. 344, 5 F.2d 767, we held an unqualified declaration of gift to be ineffective because the agreement by which the subject of the gift (a trunk with valuable contents) was deposited with the trust company permitted withdrawal either by the donor or the donees. This retention of dominance by the donor was held to defeat the gift. 91 U.S.App. D.C. at 49, 197 F.2d at 205 (emphasis added). In O'Hair v. O'Hair, 109 Ariz. 236, 508 P.2d 66, 69 (1973) (en banc), the court persuasively explained why a gift in this context is so difficult to prove: A bank account opened or carried in the name of two or more persons is in their joint custody. Joint custody of an account is a fact which, in itself, negatives any idea of a gift, In re Betts' Estate, 122 N.Y.S.2d 234, 235-36 (Surr.Ct.1953), since the essential element of a gift of personal property requires an intent on the part of the donor to divest himself of all dominion and control .... The essential elements of a gift inter vivos are that the donor manifest a clear intent to give to the party claiming as donee, and give to the latter before death, full possession and control of the property. Goff v. Guyton, 86 Ariz. 349, 346 P.2d 286 (1959). There must be a donative intent, delivery, and a vesting of irrevocable title upon such delivery. Armer v. Armer, 105 Ariz. 284, 463 P.2d 818 (1970). (Emphasis added.) Accord, In re Kelly's Estate, 285 N.Y. 139, 33 N.E.2d 62, 67 (1941) (joint custody negatives any idea of a gift). In Quesenberry v. Funk, 203 Va. 619, 125 S.E.2d 869, 873 (1962), the decedent's daughter claimed that the decedent's creation of a joint account, which had been in the name of the decedent and the daughter, constituted an inter vivos gift, but the court sustained a finding to the contrary: The essential elements of a gift inter vivos are: (1) The gift must be of personal property; (2) possession of the property must be delivered at the time of the gift to the donee, or someone for him, and the gift be accepted by the donee; (3) the title to the property must vest in the donee at the time of the gift; and the donor must be divested of and the donee invested with the right of property in the subject of the gift; it must be absolute, irrevocable and without any reference to its taking effect at some future period. (Emphasis added; citations omitted.) In In re Mulqueeny's Succession, 156 So.2d 317, 321-22 (La.Ct.App.), cert. denied, 157 So.2d 234 (La.1963), another joint account case, the court stated: Since decedent opened the homestead accounts payable to him or the Executrix, he did not divest himself of title thereto in favor of the Executrix, but continued his dominion and control over them with the power of withdrawal, in whole or in part, without her knowledge or consent. The deceased often expressed his desire that she should have these accounts, but he never executed a valid inter vivos manual gift to her. (Emphasis added.) In Denigan v. Hibernia Sav. & Loan Soc'y, 127 Cal. 137, 59 P. 389, 390 (1899), the court described as untenable the claim that the decedent, who had opened a joint account in her name and in her husband's name, thereby made a gift of the money to her husband: There is no presumption in favor of a gift (citation omitted); and in the present case the idea of a gift is inconsistent with the retention by the wife of the right in herself to withdraw the whole of the money from the bank. A valid gift goes into immediate effect, and has no reference to the future. It divests the donor of his title, and requires a renunciation on his part of all claim and interest in the subject of the gift. (Emphasis added.) [12] The logic of these decisions and of the articulation of the elements of a gift, both by courts in the District and by other courts, would suggest that the creation of a joint account might never constitute a gift. In the District, however, our cases simply presume that there is no gift, and this presumption permits a finding, in extreme cases, that a gift was intended and made. See, e.g., Prather v. Hill, 250 A.2d 690, 691-93 (D.C.1969) (finding of gift sustained where some of the money in the account was owed to the claimant by the decedent, and where the decedent was heard by others to say that the money in the account belonged to her). See also Part I D, infra.