Giuseppe Pirelli has operated a building business as a sole trader for over thirty years, but he
Question:
Giuseppe Pirelli has operated a building business as a sole trader for over thirty years, but he now thinks it is time to retire. He is not confident that his son Marco has the skills to run the business; nevertheless, he wants to provide some financial assistance to his son. Last month, Giuseppe rang Marco and said: "Son, I give you half of the debts that are still owed to me by the old business clients. Your sisters can share the remaining half". Marco happily agreed.
Giuseppe and his wife Anna owned a house at Pearl Beach as joint tenants. Giuseppe ranks his daughters Maria and Tina to tell them that he wanted to transfer his share in the Pearl Beach house to their uncle Bruno (who is Giuseppe's brother), to be held on trust for them (Maria and Tina) in equal shares. Giuseppe thinks that such an arrangement will protect the property from Marco's reckless spending.
Accordingly, Giuseppe executed a memorandum of transfer and gave it to Bruno in January. Giuseppe also ranks his solicitor, Franco, with instructions to do whatever was necessary to transfer his share of the Pearl Beach house to Bruno.
Franco is Anna's cousin. Franco decided to hold on to the certificate of title to the Pearl Beach property until he had received Anna's approval for the transfer to Bruno on trust for the daughters. Last week Franco left for a long overseas holiday and forgot to ask Anna about the certificate of title which is still in the law firm's safe for safekeeping. Bruno has tried calling Franco's office but no one has returned his calls. Giuseppe believes it has all been taken care of.
Examine and advise on the validity of the purported transfers by Giuseppe:
- The half of the business debts to Marco, and the remaining half to Maria and Tina equally;
- The share in the Pearl Beach property to Bruno as trustee.
Expert Answer:
The validity of the purported transfers by Giuseppe depends on various legal principles including contract law and property law Lets examine each transfer separately 1 Transfer of Half of Business Deb... View the full answer
