Gift contract and Lifetime Support Agreement

In practice, the question often arises whether it is legally “safer” to conclude a lifetime support agreement or a gift contract. First of all, it should be pointed out that these are two completely different legal institutes. Namely, a gift contract is a charitable legal act, while a lifetime support agreement is a burdensome legal act in which both contracting parties have certain obligations.
Also, precisely because of its encumbered nature, the property that is the subject of the lifetime support agreement does not enter the legacy of the maintenance recipient and cannot be used to settle his necessary heirs, which is noted in the confirmation clause when the contract is notarized by a notary. On the other hand, the property disposed of by the gift contract is included in the inheritance. To the legal heir, the gift received from the testator is included in his inheritance. The heir is also credited with what he owed to the testator. The inclusion of gifts in the inheritance is an institution of inheritance law that aims to establish property equality among the legal heirs in proportion to their legal inheritance, with regard to the benevolent dispositions of the testator that he made to them.
If the contracting parties want to conclude a gift contract, but actually conclude a lifetime support agreement, only with the intention of damaging the necessary heirs, it will be a simulated legal transaction that can be declared absolutely void.