4.1.5 Null Donations

For a donation to be valid, (1) the donor and donee must have capacity to give and receive; (2) the requisite formalities must be followed; and (3) the donation must not violate a substantive limit on donations.

Various grounds may render a donation null:

• Donation impoverishes donor.1
• Donation lacks proper form or the donee fails to accept.2
• Donation procured through fraud, duress, or undue influence.3
• Donee is incapable of receiving.4  
• Donation is of property that does not exist at the time of the donation.5
• Donation conditional on will of the donor.6
• Donation conditioned on paying debts and charges other than those existing at the time of the donation.7

To annul a donation on the basis of undue influence, one must show that the donee’s influence was so substantial that the donee substituted his or her own volition for that of the donor.8  However, if the evidence shows that the execution of the testament was well within the discretion of the testator, the court should not find that the testator’s volition has been replaced by that of the donee.9      

If a person commits fraud or exercises duress or unduly influences a donor, or procures an appointment by such means, that person cannot serve or continue to serve as an executor, trustee, attorney, or other fiduciary even if so designated in a testament or act of donation.10

• 1La. C.C. art. 1498.
• 2In re Succession of Jones, 46,904 (La. App. 2 Cir. 1/25/12), 86 So. 3d 25.
• 3La. C.C. art. 1480.
• 4La. C.C. art. 1475.
• 5La. C.C. art. 1528.
• 6La. C.C. art. 1529.
• 7La. C.C. art. 1530.
• 8La. C.C. art. 1479.
• 9Succession of Cole, 618 So. 2d 554 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1993).
• 10La. C.C. art. 1481.