Law regarding "gift"

McNamee v. McNamee, 2011 ONCA 533 contains a useful summary of the law on "gift":

[23] Although the term "gift" is not defined in the Family Law Act, a gift, generally speaking, is a voluntary transfer of property to another without consideration: Black's Law Dictionary, 7th ed. (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Group, 1999), at p. 696; Birce v. Birce (2001), 56 O.R. (3d) 226 (C.A.), at para. 17. A transfer of property by contractual agreement involves a mutual exchange of obligations ("consideration"), but a transfer by way of gift involves a gratuitous, unilateral transaction: Mary Jane Mossman and William Flanagan, Property Law, Cases and Commentary, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2004), at p. 439. As McLachlin J. observed in Peter v. Beblow [1993] 1 S.C.R. 980, at p. 991-92, "the central element of a gift [is the] intentional giving to another without expectation of remuneration".

[24] The essential ingredients of a legally valid gift are not in dispute. There must be (1) an intention to make a gift on the part of the donor, without consideration or expectation of remuneration, (2) an acceptance of the gift by the donee, and (3) a sufficient act of delivery or transfer of the property to complete the transaction: Cochrane v. Moore, (1890), 25 Q.B.D. 57 (C.A.), at p. 72-73; Mossman and Flanagan, supra, at p. 441, Bruce Ziff, Principles of Property Law, 5th ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 2010), at p. 157.

[25] Some authorities have sought to refine or qualify these elements in various ways, but they remain the substance of a valid gift.