With a very recent ruling, the Supreme Court defined indirect donation in favor of one of the two co-holders of the current account as 50% of the sum of €100,000.00 that the other co-holder had paid into the current account at the time of opening the account. .
The case submitted for examination by the Court of Cassation was the following: Tizio, one of the two joint holders of the current account, asserted that, since €100,000.00 had been paid into the current account by Caio, and the account was jointly held, Caio, he had thus donated €50,000.00.
Tizio argued that it was a case of indirect donation and that the solemn form required by the art. was not necessary. 782 c.c.
Caio argued that even if the form of the public document required by the art. 782 of the Civil Code, the mere joint account is not proof of donation of half the sum, but only a mere presumption of ownership of both of the active balance of the account and certainly not of the amount existing at the time of opening the account.
The Supreme Court, in the provision of 02.28.2018, held that: "Now, the joint account with separate signature and availability, of a sum of money deposited with a credit institution, can be qualified as an indirect donation if said sum, upon of the joint account, appears to have belonged to only one of the joint holders, noting that, in this case, by means of the bank deposit contract, the enrichment without consideration of the other joint holder is achieved: provided, however, that the existence of the animus donandi, consisting in the verification that the owner of the money had no other purpose than that of generosity at the time of the joint account".
It does not emerge from reading the provision in question of the Supreme Court that it was held to exist in this case "that there was no other purpose other than that of generosity".
However, the Supreme Court's provision has established a principle of law that will certainly be invoked in some disputes regarding joint current accounts.
Milano, May 11th 2018.
Avv. Giovanni Babino
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