By Dr. Anup P. Shah
Chartered Accountant
INTRODUCTION Death or rather the fear of it makes people do things they might normally not have done. One such act is known as donatio mortis causa or the giving of gifts in contemplation of death. A person on his deathbed gives certain gifts because he does not want to leave to inheritance under his Will or succession. The law deals with such gifts and the Income-tax Act also deals with the taxation of these gifts.
LEGAL PROVISIONSBlack’s Law Dictionary, 6th Edition, defines the Latin maxim “donatio mortis causa” as a gift made in contemplation of the donor’s imminent death.
Section 191 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 deals with the requirements of gifts made in contemplation of death. It reads as follows:
“191. Property transferable by gift made in contemplation of death. — (1) A man may dispose, by gift made in contemplation of death, of any movable property which he could dispose of by will.
(2) A gift said to be made in contemplation of death where a man, who is ill and expects to die shortly of his illness, delivers, to another the possession of any movable property to keep as a gift in case the donor shall die of that illness.
(3) Such a gift may be resumed by the giver; and shall not take effect if he recovers from the illness during which it was made; nor if he survives the person to whom it was made.”Thus, the requirements of a gift in contem
