RECOGNITION OF THE DONATION AGREEMENT INCENTED AS A RESULT OF THE ERROR

 Contracts made as a result of an error account for the largest number of cases concerning the invalidation of a gift contract. And most often these are the cases when a person, concluding a contract of gift, erred in its legal nature, mutual rights and obligations, considered such a transaction as a contract of life maintenance.

 As a rule, the victims of such cases are grandparents who were misled during the conclusion of the gift contract and did not understand the consequences of such an agreement. According to the practice of the Supreme Court, the grounds for declaring a gift agreement invalid are the donor's lack of will to transfer property to the gifted person free of charge during the conclusion of such an agreement, as well as the gift of such property with a mandatory condition of property or non-property in favor of the donor. The conditional donation contradicts the requirements of Article 171 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, which defines the donation agreement as the gratuitous transfer of property to another person. In addition, according to the Civil Code of Ukraine, the condition of the contract of gift is the full representation of the parties on the subject of the contract and their agreement on its essential terms. The purpose of the contract is to transfer property to another person only free of charge and without mutual remuneration. Therefore, if the contract obliges the gifted person to perform in favor of the donor any actions of a property or non-property nature, then such an agreement is not a contract of gift in nature. Thus, the fact that the parties read the text of the gift agreement at the time of signing, and the notary explained the essence of the agreement and its consequences, in itself is not grounds for refusing to satisfy the claim for invalidation of such a gift agreement.

 At the same time, a person who applies to the court to declare a gift contract invalid must prove that he was wrong and misunderstood the facts of the contract, its legal nature and consequences during the conclusion of such a contract, which indicates the absence of his will to the true nature of the contract of gift. In this case, the person must confirm with appropriate and admissible evidence, including written documents and explanations of the parties, that such circumstances regarding the misperception and his error really took place and are significant.

Such circumstances may be:

• state of health of the person;
• age;
• the need for outside help and care.

 Or, for example, an apartment donated by a person under such an agreement is his only home and he did not actually transfer it to the gifted person and continued to live in the disputed housing after concluding the donation agreement.

 Thus, according to the practice of the Supreme Court, the presence or absence of error - incorrect perception by the plaintiff of the facts of the transaction, which affected the will of the person when concluding a gift agreement instead of a lifetime maintenance agreement, the court must determine not only after reading the text of the disputed gift agreement. explanation by a notary of the essence of the contract, but also in the presence of the above factual circumstances, which confirm the erroneous formation of the will of the alienator of the property.