ABSTRACT
This article examines the future of donatio mortis causa in light of proposed reforms to Wills law and the growth of digital wealth. It argues that statutory dispensing powers and electronic wills weaken the justification for expanding deathbed gifts. Comparative analysis of New South Wales, New Zealand and British Columbia demonstrates that testamentary informality can be accommodated through judicially supervised statutory validation. The doctrine should therefore survive only as a residual mechanism for genuine lifetime transfers conditional upon death, requiring objectively corroborated contemplation of death and meaningful transfer of dominion, particularly where registered land or digital assets are concerned.
Claire-Michelle Smyth, Deathbed gifts after Wills reform: digital dominion, testamentary formality and the future of Donatio Mortis Causa, Trusts & Trustees. Published: 5 August 2026.
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