GIFTS - CAUSA MORTIS -AUTOMOBILES - EFFECT OF STATUTE ON TRANSFER OF TITLE BY GIFT AND WILL

Plaintiff filed a bill in chancery seeking a declaration of rights with respect to an automobile to which she claimed title by reason of a gift causa morris. Although the evidence offered by plaintiff on trial tended to support a valid common law gift causa mortis, defendant contended that the gift was ineffective because of the failure of the donor to comply with a statute which stated that in the event of the sale or other transfer . . . of the ownership of a motor vehicle for which a certain certificate of title has been issued . . . the holder of such certificate shall endorse on the back of same an assignment thereof with warranty of title . . . and deliver the same to the purchaser or transferee. Held, the words or other transfer include gifts causa mortis, and an assignment and delivery of the certificate of title are essential to the execution of a valid gift. Taylor v. Burdick, 320 Mich. 25, 30 N.W. (2d) 418 (1948)