In the Slovenian legislation, gift contracts are regulated in Chapter IV, Articles 533 through 545, of the Slovenian Code of Obligations (the OZ).

With a gift contract, one person (the donor) undertakes to transfer the property or another right to another person (the recipient) free of charge, or to enrich the recipient in some other way at the expense of their property, while the recipient declares that they agree with this. A waiver of a right is also considered a gift contract if the obligee agrees with this. A waiver of a right in respect of which there is no obligee and which is not assigned to another person shall not be considered as a gift contract. The contract concluded by the donor out of gratitude or some other moral obligation shall also be considered as a gift contract if the recipient did not have the right to request said gift with a lawsuit. The OZ also develops the concept of a mixed gift, setting out that if the recipient is also obliged to enrich the donor under the same contract or another contract, this shall only be considered a gift contract in respect of the surplus value. This is also confirmed in case law. Thus, it follows from the judgement of the High Court in Maribor with the ref. no. I Cp 668/2022 of 14 November 2022, as well as the judgement of the High Court of Ljubljana with the ref. no. II Cp 2148/2018 of 27 March 2019 that the serious ingratitude required for a gift contract or a gift to be revoked means that the way in which the recipient behaved in relation to the donor or to a close person of the donor would make it unfair, according to fundamental moral principles, for the recipient to keep the gift that they received. However, the content of the legal standard of ingratitude in the argumentation of their decision must be determined by the Court in each real-life example under consideration.

The OZ also stipulates that, if the donor’s obligation comprises periodic performance, it shall expire upon the donor’s death. The OZ also regulates the liability for damages of the donor: anyone who knowingly donates another person’s item and does not disclose this circumstance to the recipient is liable for the damage. If the gifted thing has a defect or a dangerous attribute owing to which damage is incurred by the recipient, the donor shall be liable for the damage if the donor knew or should have known of the defect or dangerous attribute and failed to warn the recipient.

The OZ further stipulates that, if the donor does not immediately transfer the thing or right to the recipient such that the latter is able to freely dispose of it, the gift contract must be concluded in written form. If the gift contract is not concluded in written form, the recipient may not demand the performance thereof via a suit. From the judgement of the High Court in Celje with the ref. no. Cp 641/2014 of 26 February 2 2015, it follows that a gift contract, although not concluded in writing, is valid because it was largely fulfilled, making the legal relationship between the parties thus realised as a gift contract.

However, in certain cases and under certain conditions, a gift contract can also be cancelled. The donor may revoke the gift contract if, after concluding said contract, they find themselves in a position in which their livelihood is threatened. However, it is not possible to revoke the contract if such a revocation would threaten the livelihood of the recipient. The recipient may, however, keep the gift if they ensure the livelihood of the donor. The donor may also revoke a gift contract due to serious ingratitude if, after its conclusion, the way in which the recipient behaves in relation to the donor or to a close person of the donor would make it unfair, according to fundamental moral principles, for the recipient to keep the gift that they received. A heir of the donor may also revoke a gift contract due to the behaviour of the recipient in relation to the donor. It is also possible to revoke a gift contract concluded with the heir of the original recipient due to the recipient’s behaviour. It is not possible to revoke the gift contract if the donor has forgiven the recipient for their behaviour. However, the donor may revoke the gift contract if, after concluding said contract, they parent a child which was not the case before. From the judgement of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia, ref. no. II Ips 229/2018 of 14 November 11 2019, it follows that, unlike a gift contract which is a bilateral transaction, as it requires the cooperation (declaration of will) of both contracting parties, the cancellation of the gift contract can only be effective on the basis of a unilateral statement of the donor, which has a constitutive effect, as it causes the termination of the gift contract. Constitutive rights are an important group of unilateral (binding) legal transactions. This is a statement of the law of obligations, which in itself does not establish the property right of the donor. Due to the termination of the legal basis (contract), it gives the donor the right to request the return of the gift, and obliges the recipient to return it; the only thing arising from the revocation is therefore the obligation of the recipient to perform all necessary actions to ensure that the donor will regain their right of ownership. Real estate is returned by allowing the previous land registry status of the registration of the right of ownership to be established in the land register. If the recipient fails to do so voluntarily, the donor must obtain said registration through a lawsuit. Therefore, in order to re-establish the donor’s right of ownership for the real estate in question, an entry in the land register is required in addition to the revocation of the gift.

The cancellation of the gift contract also results in consequences. With the declaration of cancellation, the donor requests the return of the donated item or right, or the payment of the value that the recipient has received on the basis of the gift contract. The revocation shall result in the termination of the donor’s obligation if the gift contract has not yet been fulfilled. The gift contract may be cancelled within one year of the date on which the donor learned of the reason for the cancellation. The revocation of a gift contract cannot be waived, meaning that the cancellation of the revocation of such a contract is null and void.

The OZ also stipulates that a gift contract to be performed after the donor’s death shall only be valid if concluded in the form of a notarial protocol and if the document on the concluded contract is delivered to the recipient. From the judgement of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia, ref. no. II Ips 69/2016 of 1 September 2016, it follows that the form of a gift contract in the event of death is determined as a condition for its validity, and that if something is missing, the contract is considered null and void. In the present case, a person who should not have participated as a record witness according to the law participated in the preparation of the disputed notarial records as a record witness. This means that all formal requirements were not met in the preparation of notarial records, and that the disputed gift contract in the event of death, as well as the annex to said contract, were not concluded in the form of a notarial act, and were therefore null and void.