Category Archives: Legal News

Deed of Gift Form

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A Deed of Gift is a formal legal document used to give a gift of property or money to another person. It transfers the money or ownership of property (or share in a property) to another person without payment in return.

Generally, most Deed of Gift transfers are carried out between family members as property transferred in this way is usually given out of the love and affection the giver has for the recipient.

The person who creates and executes a Deed of Gift to transfer money or property from himself to another person is called a Donor and the person receiving the gift is called the Donee.

Transferring property or money by way of gift must be executed as a Deed because no consideration is given in return for the gift, thus the document has to be witnessed. Please note that the witnesses have to be disinterested parties. In other words they cannot have a stake in the transfer of the property. If a witness stands to benefit or take a loss because of the transfer of the property, then cannot be considered disinterested and cannot act as a witness.

A Deed of Gift can be used to donate money, land and/or valuable objects to someone else.

An irrevocable Deed of Gift once signed and witnessed, transfers the gift to the Donee who takes immediate legal ownership of the gift. Consequently, the Donor cannot later change his mind and reclaim the objects he has transferred.

Giving a gift to someone can have some Inheritance Tax implications. Generally, any gifts made to any individuals will be exempt from Inheritance Tax payments if the Donor lives for a total of seven years or more after having made the gift. These kinds of gifts are usually known as Potentially Exempt Transfers (PETs).

However, if the Donor gives away an asset but keeps an interest in it or continues to benefit from it then the gift will not fall within the category of a potentially exempt transfer.

If the Donor dies within seven years of making a gift and the gift is valued at more than the Inheritance Tax threshold, Inheritance Tax will need to be paid on the value of the gift usually by the Donee or by the representatives of the estate.

However, please note that certain gifts are exempt from Inheritance Tax. If the gift in question falls within the exempt categories then, even if it is valued at more than the Inheritance Tax threshold, the Donor can pass on the asset/gift without paying Inheritance Tax.

Gifts can be made to certain people and organisations without having to pay any Inheritance Tax. These gifts are exempt whether are made during the Donor life or as part of the will.

Generally, there’s usually no Inheritance Tax to pay on gifts left to a spouse or civil partner even if it’s over the threshold, as long as they have a permanent home in the UK.

N.B. Gifts left to an unmarried partner, or a partner that is not in a registered civil partnership, are not exempt.

Furthermore, gifts made to charities, museums, universities, Community Amateur Sports clubs and the National Trust are exempt.

The Legal Stop provides different Deed of Gift templates to be used in specific circumstances:

Deed of Grant of Easement

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An Easement confers the right to one landowner to use the land of another in some way, or to prevent it being used in a certain way. Examples of easements are a right of way and a right of light.

There are certain conditions that must be satisfied before an Easement can exist:

  • There must be a Dominant piece of land (i.e. the land benefiting from the easement) and a Servient piece of land (the land over which the easement is granted);
  • The right must benefit the Dominant land;
  • The Dominant and Servient pieces of land must not be both owned and occupied by the same person; and
  • The right must be capable of being granted by deed.

Therefore, an Easement is a right enjoyed over one piece of land for the benefit of another piece of land. The nature and extent of the right must be capable of exact description, for example the right to a good view is a matter of taste which cannot be clearly defined and so cannot exist as an Easement.

There are several reasons for granting an Easement, for example, an Easement can be granted where the owner of a piece of land/property needs to cross an adjoining property/land in order to reach the public highway. This type of Easement is called an Easement of a right of way. Another example is where the owner of a property must place underground services under the adjoining land.

One of the ways to create/acquire an Easement is by Express Grant or Reservation.

If the Express Grant or Reservation is by Deed then the Easement will be Legal. Where a Deed is not used then the Easement will be Equitable if granted in writing and for value.

N.B. A “Reservation” of an Easement arises where the seller selling off part of the land takes, i.e. “reserves”, an Easement over the land being sold for the benefit of the seller’s retained land.

The Express Grant or Reservation of a Legal Easement over Registered Land (both the Servient and the Dominant lands are registered) is a registrable disposition and so is required to be completed by registration. The Express Grant or Reservation will not take effect as a Legal Easement until the registration requirements have been met. To meet the registration requirements an application to register the Easement must be made using Form AP1.

Where both the Servient and the Dominant lands are registered, a Legal Easement should be registered against both titles i.e. the burden of the easement is registered in the register of the Servient land and the benefit of the easement is registered in the register of the Dominant land.

Where the registration requirements have been met the Easement has priority over any interests created before its grant that at the time of registration of the Easement are not protected.

The Express Grant or Reservation of a Legal Easement where the Servient land is Registered and the Dominant land is Unregistered is still a registrable disposition. Thus an application to register the Easement must be made using Form AP1. The Legal Easement will be registered on the charges register of the Servient land.

The Express Grant or Reservation of a Legal Easement where the Servient land is Unregistered and the Dominant land is Registered is not a registrable disposition, so it is effective at law when made. In other words it is automatically binding and needs no registration.

We provide a wide selection of professionally drafted legal and business documents, if you are looking for a Deed of Grant of Easement template please see: http://www.thelegalstop.co.uk/Business/Deed-of-Grant-of-Easement.html