Property Law Keyed to Dukeminier
Gruen v. Gruen
ProfessorTodd Berman
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The Plaintiff brings an action against the Defendant, Kemija Gruen (Defendant), his stepmother seeking a declaration that he is the rightful owner of a painting by Gustav Klimt. The Plaintiff asserts that his now deceased father wrote him a letter stating that he was giving the Plaintiff the painting for his birthday, but he, the father, wished to retain possession of it during his lifetime. This letter is not in evidence, as it was destroyed per the father’s instructions. Two other letters exist declaring the father’s intent to give the painting to his son as a gift. The Plaintiff never took possession of the painting during his father’s lifetime, but sought possession of the painting upon his father’s death. The Defendant claims the purported gift was testamentary in nature and did not meet the formalities of a will or alternatively, that a donor may not make a valid inter vivos gift of a chattel and retain a life estate with a complete right of possession. The lower court f ound for the Defendant, finding that the Plaintiff did not establish any of the elements of an intervivos gift and that in any event an attempt by a donor to retain a present possessory life estate in a chattel invalidated a purported gift of it. The appellate division reversed the trial courts decision and held that a valid gift may be made reserving a life estate. The Defendant appealed to the Supreme Court.
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