Under a donation agreement, the owner of a real property or personal property, voluntarily transfers the title and possession of the same, from themselves to another person, without any consideration (purchase price or return promise). Any person can be a party to the donation contract either as a donor (giving the donation) or as a donee (receivinng the donation), but in most cases donation takes place between natural persons.
The subject of the contract can be real property (property which cannot be moved), rights representing property interest, such as usufruct (a right to use and derive profit from property belonging to someone else) and right of use (a right to use a property belonging to someone else), or personal property (property which can be moved), but restrictions may be stipulated by law, such as in the case of agricultural land. Money is also donated quite often.
Donation agreements do not exist in the common law system, as opposed to the Cotinental legal system, since they do not contain consideration. The documents about donations or gifts in common law are called deeds of gift.
KEY VOCABULARY
agricultural land
consideration
deed of gift
donor
donee
owner
personal property
purchase price
real property
restriction
right of use
to transfer the title and possession
usufruct
voluntarily
