Gift or Loan? 2025 - On Demand

Package includes:

On Demand Module  l  Electronic booklet  l  PowerPoint Presentation

Package Fee (incl GST)

• $115 - Law Society members and Associate members
• $165 - Non-members

Note: Access to the online files is via your "My CPD" page. If you would like to purchase multiple packages, please contact us here.

On Demand Module

Increasingly, home buyers are turning to parents, family members and others to take their first step on the property ladder. A key issue that often emerges is whether the funds were a gift or loan. This module will enable you to provide effective advice in this area. It will have a strong focus on whether clients need to make a written demand for the repayment of a loan and the circumstances in which the six-year limitation period applies.

The module will include:

• An overview of the legal principles relevant to the issues
• Case law updates on inter-family gift, loan and resulting trust claims
• Common pitfalls in inter-family loan documentation and how this is relevant in litigation and the six-year limitation period.

Learning objectives

By completing this module you will obtain:

• Gain an understanding of recent case law developments on inter-family gift, loan and resulting trust claims.
• Learn ways to best advise clients on related issues.

Electronic paper 

Author: Catharina Chung
Published: 2 April 2025
Pages: 33

Introduction

With the rapid rise in housing prices in New Zealand, it has become increasingly common for family members to contribute towards the purchase of residential properties. Parents, in particular, have supported their children in various ways when acquiring property. However, the lack of proper documentation often makes it challenging to determine whether these contributions are gifts, loans, or instances where the parent partly or wholly owns the property. This webinar aims to equip you with the skills to accurately identify the nature of such contributions for your clients, and to guide you on how to properly record and document what these contributions truly represent.

This paper covers the following:

• the legal principles relevant to the issues: gift, loan, joint venture, resulting trust, the presumption of advancement and the presumption of resulting trust;
• summary of the key cases relating to these issues that you should note;
• the current trend in New Zealand: the application of the presumption of advancement; and
• common pitfalls in inter-family loan documentation and how this is relevant in litigation and the six-year limitation period.

PowerPoint Presentation

These are the slides included in the presentation.