Universal Donee’s Personal Liability under TPA
- To examine Universal Donee’s (UD) personal liability we may refer Section 128 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (TPA).
- The UD is the person who gets all the properties (movable/ immovable) of the donor under the gift.
- English law does not recognize the concept of universal done.
- Section 128 deals with the universal donee (UD). (UKJ-2008)
- The object of Section 128 is to protect the interest of the creditors of the donor.
- The donee personally liable (CGJ-2003) for all the debts and liabilities of the donor due at the time of the gift. However, donee’s liability is only to the extent of the property comprised in the gift. (UPJ-2003/ MPAPP-2010/ UKJ-2011)
Limitations/ Restrictions-
- Section 128 is subject to section 127 (onerous gift). Therefore, a done may outrightly refuse to accept the gift if he finds that most of the properties are burdensome. Similarly, if universal donee is a minor, he is not liable for the donor’s debts and liabilities unless he retains the properties after attaining the age of minority.
Section 53 Vs. Section 128—
The object of both the sections is to protect the rights of the creditor of the transferor. However, there are following difference between these two section—
- Section 53 protects the interest of the creditor in case the debtor makes the transfer to defraud creditor’s interest. Under Section 53 the creditor is entitled to set aside a fraudulent transfer of immovable property. But under section 128 the creditor is entitle to exercise his right of recovery from the immovable and movable property both.
- Remedy available under section 53 is only in case of fraudulent transfer while under section 128 remedy is available whether the transfer is fraudulent or with honest motive (e.g. renouncing the world in search of spiritual gains).
________________________________________
Prepared by team LegalMines. The copyright as to contents and the style are with the team LegalMines. Typographical error, if any, is inadvertent.
