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Uk high court's judgment on modern perspective of donatio mo

UK High Court's Judgment on Modern Perspective of Donatio Mortis Causa

There are three requirements to constitute a valid DMC. They are:

i) Donor contemplates his impending death.
ii) Donor makes a gift which will only take effect if and when his contemplated death occurs. Until then Donor has the right to revoke the gift.
iii) Donor delivers dominion over the subject matter of the gift to Recipient.

As many judges have observed, the doctrine of DMC (Donatio Mortis Causa) in the context of English law is an anomaly. It enables Donor to transfer property upon his death without complying with any of the formalities of section 9 of the Wills Act or section 52 of the Law of Property Act. Thus the doctrine paves the way for all of the abuses which those statutes are intended to prevent.The Lord Chancellor in Jones v Selby and Lord Chelmsford in Cosnahan drew attention to this risk. They stressed the need for the strictest scrutiny of the factual evidence. The Court of Appeal rightly stressed in Birch that the courts must not allow DMC to be used as a device in order to validate ineffective wills.

Neutral Citation Number: [2015] EWCA Civ 581
		Case No: A3/2014/2704

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, CHANCERY DIVISION
MR HOLLANDER QC, SITTING AS A DEPUTY HIGH COURT JUDGE
HC12E03256