AZE.US
A gifted apartment, house or other property may be returned if a court determines that the transfer was intended to conceal assets, avoid a property division or evade legal obligations, an Azerbaijani lawyer has said.
Lawyer Jeyhun Ismayilov told Demokrat.az that gift agreements, like other property transactions, can be challenged in court when there are legitimate legal grounds.
The issue often arises when parents or close relatives transfer real estate to a minor child to ensure that the property remains in the child’s ownership. However, another relative’s disagreement with the gift is not, by itself, sufficient to cancel the transaction.
“If a gift agreement was concluded through an abuse of rights or for the purpose of avoiding the division of property, a court may annul it following a claim by an interested party,” Ismayilov said.
“If there is no abuse or other improper intent, an owner is free to gift their property to another person.”
Such disputes are particularly common during divorce proceedings. One spouse may attempt to transfer an apartment to a relative or third party to keep it outside the pool of marital assets subject to division.
A gift agreement may also be challenged if the owner formally transferred the property to avoid fulfilling financial or other legal obligations.
If the court finds evidence that the transaction was carried out for such purposes, it may invalidate the agreement and order the property returned. Without evidence of abuse or fraudulent intent, however, relatives cannot reverse a lawful gift simply because they object to it.
AZE.US