An endowment for real estate, such as a house or apartment, is a gratuitous and often irrevocable procedure for transferring an object from one person to another. This legal document comes into force from the moment of its registration by relevant state institutions. If the paper is composed correctly and meets all the established requirements and accepted forms, then the question of whether it is possible to challenge the gift is quite complicated.
Circumstances in which an apartment or a house cannot be an object of donation
Civil law defends the interests of not only the donor, but also of persons who received the property for use. It is because of personal material interest that the question often arises as to whether it is possible to challenge a gift for a house or an apartment. However, there are a number of special circumstances in which a document on the transfer of an immovable object does not go through the state registration stage at all. These include the following points:
- A legal guardian or a legitimate representative does not have the right to donate immovable property on behalf of his minor ward (under 14 years old) or a citizen who is officially recognized as legally incompetent.
- Workers and employees of various medical, guardian, educational and other similar organizations cannot receive a house or apartment as a gift from people who are in the specified institution.
- Civil servants cannot accept immovable objects as a gift of gratitude for the work they have done.
Under these circumstances, the question arises as to whether it is possible to challenge a testament, since the document will be automatically rejected and the property will be returned back to the owner.
How to challenge a gift for an apartment? Special cases
Even after going through the registration process, a document such as a home deed can be challenged. The easiest way to do this is in the following situations:
- The contract of gift of real estate was not drawn up correctly, in unlawful circumstances or it lacked the necessary data regarding the two parties. This includes a deviation from the standard form of the document, the lack of registration of the property, etc.
- The donor was incompetent at the time of the paperwork. In this case, the answer to the question of whether it is possible to challenge the gift, in almost all cases will be positive. In this situation, however, an official medical opinion is needed that confirms this fact.
- When making paper, the donor was under the influence of various psychological influences. This also requires an official opinion of a specialist in a particular medical industry.
- The donor at the time of signing the deed of gift was under the influence of psychotropic substances. This includes narcotic drugs, medications, as well as being intoxicated when a person is affected by a misunderstanding of the situation. Most often, laboratory evidence or eyewitness testimony is required to confirm these facts.
Additional circumstances
The answer to the question of whether it is possible to challenge the gift of real estate, has features in a number of other circumstances:
- A person who received an apartment or a house as a gift intentionally forced him to sign an agreement by inflicting bodily harm on the donor or by threatening or attempting on the physical or mental state of his relatives and friends.
- A gift agreement was signed in order to conceal other legal transactions. The reason, for example, may be reluctance to pay state taxes when the legal side of the procedure for the purchase and sale of real estate is completed.
- Lack of consent of one of the spouses to the donation process of an immovable object that was acquired together. If the property was acquired by a citizen before marriage, then such a document is not needed.
- A person who received a house or apartment as a gift, does not properly monitor the property - floods, fires, etc.
The question as to whether relatives can challenge a gift to a house or apartment in the event of the death of the recipient is also often resolved in a positive way. However, in this case, this item must be specified in the contract.
The timing
According to the civil law of the Russian Federation, a testament can be revoked no later than three years from the date of the legal transaction, as well as no more than a year from the date of filing the claim for its cancellation.
However, if the donor withdraws his offer, and the person who received the house or apartment is against this, the procedure can be extended to 5 years.
List of required documentation
The solution to the problem of whether it is possible to challenge the donation depends largely on the competent execution and timely submission of the relevant papers. Most often, the following documentation is required to run such a procedure:
- Certificate confirming payment of state tax for registration activities.
- A document that identifies the applicant.
- Real estate gift contract.
- Cadastral passport and apartment or house number - the original and a certified copy.
- Notarized consent of one of the spouses to donation of immovable property.
- Various permits of guardianship authorities and other similar institutions.
- Additional documents that are determined by the specific situation.
Solving the problem without a lawsuit
The answer to the question as to whether persons without a trial can challenge the deed of gift can be resolved positively only in one case - if the contract was drawn up incorrectly.
The procedure for the transfer of the apartment is necessarily accompanied by the registration of this fact. If there is no registry, then in order to cancel the contract, it is not necessary to carry out any specific actions. Without registration, an apartment or house is automatically considered the property of the donor.
How to challenge a gift through court
In addition to the lack of registration of the paper, there are other circumstances that will require the assessment of a specialist. As for how to challenge the gift of the apartment through the court, there are a number of features. The procedure itself may be accompanied by a different list of necessary documentation. The specialist proceeds from a specific case.
In any case, first a lawsuit is submitted to the district court with all the necessary documents, after which an official hearing is held at the appointed time, where the dispute is resolved.
Court decision in case the donor is declared legally incompetent
In such a situation, an official guardian or a representative of the owner of the property should speak out to challenge the contract. The claim paper should be accompanied by documentation that confirms the condition of the donor. Most often this is a medical certificate, a report from a doctor, the results of a comprehensive examination, etc.
After the formal submission of the statement of claim, the case is considered in court. In the event that the contract is declared null and void, the apartment or house will again become the property of the donor. However, it should be borne in mind that in this option, all additional financial costs for home improvement incurred by the person who received the apartment or house are paid by the owner of the real estate.
Withdrawal of a deed of gift due to improper treatment of real estate
According to the Civil Code, this situation requires a decision only in court. For this, a statement of claim is written in the name of the person who received the immovable property as a gift. It asks the court to cancel the contract in a compulsory form. The paper should provide detailed information regarding how exactly a person behaves in an apartment, why his activities are unsafe for the physical safety of an immovable object. In addition to this, testimonies of witnesses, reports of employees of the fire service, police, etc. are added.
Statement of claim in connection with attempts by the donee to influence the decision of the owner
Situations with possible pressure on the owner of real estate must also be dealt with in court. This may be blackmail, threats to him personally or to his relatives and relatives, as well as bodily harm.
A similar lawsuit is filed with the district branch of the court, where the date of the official legal proceedings is set. In addition, it will be necessary to submit various certificates from law enforcement services, interrogation protocols, statements filed with the police, medical reports and other similar documents within the established deadlines.
Cancellation of the legitimacy of a gift contract is a rather complicated legal operation and depends on many factors. In some cases, the satisfaction of the statement of claim is impossible, however, under certain circumstances and legally correctly executed documents, you can count on a positive outcome of the process. At the same time, such items as the deadline for submitting paper, testimony and other special data that confirm the advisability of canceling the gift agreement deserve special attention. Given the complexity of the legal process, seek help from an experienced professional.