Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

gift causa mortis

A gift made in contemplation of the donor's imminent death. ( The three essentials are that (1) the gift must be made with a view to the donor's present illness or peril, (2) the donor must actually die from that illness or peril, without ever recovering, and (3) there must be a delivery. Even though causa mortis is the more usual word order in modern law, the correct Latin phrasing is mortis causa -hence gift mortis causa. - Also termed donatio causa mortis; donatio mortis causa; gift in contemplation of death; transfer in contemplation of death. "A gift causa mortis' ... is testamentary, and it is similar to testamentary disposition in the respect that there remains with the donor the power to revoke the gift until his death. In some respects, a gift causa mortis may be said to resemble a contract, for mutual consent and the concurrent will of both parties are necessary to the validity of the transfer." 38A C.J.S. Gifts § 85, at 276-77 (1996)