Invalidation of an apartment donation agreement made under the influence of violence in family relations

The scientific article examines the issue of invalidating an apartment donation agreement concluded under the influence of violence in family relations. A donation agreement is a unilateral or bilateral transaction, under which one party (the donor) transfers or undertakes to transfer property (a gift) to the other party (the donee) free of charge in the future. The expression of the will of the participants in the transaction to conclude it must be free and correspond to their inner will. If the transaction is concluded under the influence of any pressure, whether physical or mental, from one party to the transaction in relation to the other, such a transaction may be declared invalid by the court. In the course of the research conducted, it was established that family relations have a bright emotional coloring, which affects the decision-making of one of the spouses regarding the alienation of their own real estate in favor of the other spouse. There are cases when one party persuades the other to conclude an apartment donation agreement, which is the personal property of one of the spouses. Such “requests” may be manipulative in nature. Thus, we are talking about the conclusion of an apartment donation agreement under the influence of violence, which may be declared invalid in court. The author has proven that evidence in cases of this category may be: resolutions on bringing a person to administrative responsibility for committing domestic violence, urgent prohibitory orders, expert opinions to determine the severity of the bodily injuries inflicted, expert opinions on the psychological state of the person, medical documentation indicating the deterioration of the donor’s health, both physical and mental, witness statements, audio and video recordings recording the actions of another party to the transaction, indicating that he committed physical or mental pressure, and others. Cases on the declaration of invalidity of an apartment donation agreement concluded under the influence of violence in family relations are considered in civil court proceedings in the claim proceedings. The procedure for considering such cases, in particular, the requirements for the content of the statement of claim and the annexes attached to it, are set out in Articles 175, 177 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine.