What is the difference and legal consequence between a Deed of Gift and a Deed of Assignment?
A deed of gift is an written agreement which tranfers full legal ownership of some property from the original owner (donor) to the new (donee).To be a legal gift the donor cannot retain any legal rights in the gifted property. Also the gift must be transferred for free i.e the donee is not required to give anything in return otherwise its a simple contract. Gifts usually take effect immediately the deed is executed and are usually “absolute” i.e final and not subject to any conditions or limitations as to the use of the gifted property.Otherwise the deed is more likely to be creating a trust (or some poossibly other legal structure). Finally to be a Deed the document needs to be executed “under seal” and witnessed. An assignment is a generally word for transfer of property or contractual rights.Assignments can be required and made in a number of legal contexts.They do not neccessarily need to be effected by Deed (which requires particular formalities as opposed to a simple contract doc
