Equity and Trusts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Equity and Trusts - Essay Example By the delivery of the gift, it can thus be understood that the gift can be considered as perfect when the donor of the gift actually surrenders the control or the right of the property. The intention of the donor making the gift is identified by the court with regard to certain circumstances. These circumstances include the relationship between the parties involved in the exchange of the gift, behaviour of the donor in the event of the exchange of the gift and the actual amount of the gift. The donor must also possess the legal capacity to deliver a gift to someone. Correspondingly, the final element is the acceptance of the gift wherein the person taking the gift must accept it at the time of the delivery. On completion of these three elements, the court would recognise such gift as a ‘perfect gift’. If in any case, the court is unable to identify the following three elements in the exchange of the gift then it is considered as the ‘imperfect gift’, which was also ruled in the Milroy v Lord case2. The aim of this study is to reveal the actual meaning of the perfect gift and the process through which the law has developed exception that the equity is unable to assist the volunteer to perfect an imperfect gift. The study has also tried to analyse the scope of further development in the particular area. Exceptions to the Maxim That ‘Equity Will Not Assist a Volunteer to Perfect an Imperfect Gift’ In the Milroy v Lord case, the main issue intended to prove whether the transferor of the property was really the trustee so that the gift could be treated as a ‘perfect gift’ or an ‘imperfect gift’ if otherwise. The question that rose in the context of this case was that the property was actually registered in the name of Tom Medley or was this was only an interest of Elena in order to enjoy the full right of the property. The case was in possession of the property and the limitations that were levied on the equity of the gift. Elena, niece of Tom Medley was getting married very soon. After the marriage of Elena, Medley had given some dividends from the shares to Elena, which was immediately handed over to the trustee or the Lord. Lord had deposited these shares in the Bank of Louisiana. Soon after the death of Medley, various issues rose such as whether these shares in the bank came under the possession of Medley or were they are the part of Lord’s property. Nevertheless, the real fact was that the shares were not once enumerated in the name of Lord rather it was always in the name of Medley3. At the end of the case, the court held a decision that Elena had no possession of any kind of property in the Bank of Louisiana as the title was never handed over to Lord from Medley. In this case, Lord was only acting as the trustee of the shares but the actual beneficiary was Elena. This case has given rise to a number of issues such as the ‘creation of trust’ and the ex ception that the ‘equity will not assist a volunteer to perfect an imperfect gift’4. In a general sense, trust is a legally binding agreement in which an individual transfers the legal control of the property to another person, namely the trustee, to manage the property effectively for the sake of the beneficiary. A trust usually is levied during the lifetime of the individual