You need to be very careful not to give away too many of your assets, as that could place you in a precarious situation or make you dependent on your children or the community.

The donation can be made subject to the donor retaining a reservation of usufruct.  For example, grandparents could donate a real estate property to their grandchildren (see below A. 6.) while continuing to occupy it (by keeping the usufruct) until their death. At that moment, the grandchildren will obtain full ownership. However, do not forget to take into account the children’s reserved portion of the inheritance (as statutory heirs). Your notary will be able to advise you to a further extent in this regard.

In principle, a donation is final and irrevocable. However, in certain cases, it is possible to recover the donated asset(s):

• A donation made on the basis of a suspensive condition: a donation in this regard will only be final once the condition has been fulfilled (if it is not fulfilled, the donation is deemed never to have been made).

• A contractual reversion in case the donee dies: the donor may decide that the donated asset should automatically be returned to him/her, should the donee die before the donor, even if the donee has children.

• Revocation on the grounds of non-observance of assignments: a donation can be made subject to a request that the donee (the receiver of the gift) carries out a number of assignments. Thus, the donation becomes a reciprocal contract and, should the assignments not be executed, the asset will revert back to the donor's estate.

• Revocation due to the donee's ingratitude towards the donor: in such a case, the motive has to be sufficiently serious, e.g. if there is an attempt to endanger the donor's life.

• Donations between spouses can always be revoked unilaterally by the donor (except if they were granted in a marriage contract or by an act of amendment to the matrimonial property regime).