Question

Principle: Property can be transferred only by a living person to another living person.
Facts: ‘A’ transfers property of which he is the owner in favor of the unborn child of B.

• A. Property has been transferred to the unborn child
• B. Property has been transferred to B
• C. Property has not been transferred to the unborn child
• D. Property will be transferred to the unborn child after his birth

Hint:

In legal terms, a property transfer to an unborn child is not valid until the child is born and recognized as a person.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

According to the principle, property can only be transferred by a living person to another living person. Since the unborn child is not yet a living person, the transfer of property to the unborn child is not valid. A transfer of property to an unborn child can be valid only once the child is born and becomes a legal person. Therefore, the transfer cannot take place before the child’s birth.
Thus, the correct answer is (C). Property has not been transferred to the unborn child.
Option (A) is incorrect because the property cannot be transferred to the unborn child before birth. Option (B) is incorrect because the property is meant to be transferred to the unborn child, not B directly. Option (D) is incorrect because the transfer will not occur before the birth; it will occur once the child is born and legally recognized.

Answer 2

This question tests whether a transfer aimed at a person not yet born can take legal effect immediately. Let's consider each option.

1. Property has been transferred to the unborn child: The principle requires the transferee to be a living person at the time of transfer. An unborn child does not yet exist as a living person in the eyes of this rule, so a transfer purportedly made in its favour cannot take immediate effect as claimed by this option.
2. Property has been transferred to B: Nothing in the facts indicates A intended to transfer the property to B; the stated intention was to benefit B's unborn child specifically, not B himself, so redirecting the transfer to B has no support in the facts.
3. Property has not been transferred to the unborn child: Since the principle confines valid transfers to living persons on both ends, and the unborn child is not yet a living person, no effective transfer to that child can occur at the time A attempts it. The transfer described therefore fails to vest any property in the unborn child.
4. Property will be transferred to the unborn child after his birth: This assumes the same purported transfer will automatically spring into effect later, but the principle only describes when a transfer can validly occur, from one living person to another; it does not itself provide for an attempted transfer to lie dormant and activate automatically once the child is born.

Since the unborn child was not a living person at the time A attempted the transfer, and the principle limits valid transfers to living persons, the property could not have passed to the unborn child.

Therefore, the correct answer is Property has not been transferred to the unborn child.

Answer 3

The principle sets a single condition for a valid transfer: both the transferor and the transferee must be living persons, at the time of the transfer. Checking the transferee's status at that moment resolves each option.

1. Property has been transferred to the unborn child: At the moment A attempts the transfer, the child has not yet been born and so is not a living person, failing the condition on the transferee's side. A transfer requiring a living transferee cannot be said to have already succeeded when that condition is unmet.
2. Property has been transferred to B: Nothing in the facts describes A intending B, the parent, as the transferee, the stated beneficiary is B's unborn child specifically. Redirecting the transfer to B has no support in what A actually did.
3. Property has not been transferred to the unborn child: Since the condition requires a living transferee at the time of transfer, and the child does not yet exist as a living person at that moment, the transfer cannot take effect as attempted. No property has passed to the child.
4. Property will be transferred to the unborn child after his birth: This assumes the condition can be satisfied later and the same attempted transfer will spring to life once it is. The principle only states when a valid transfer occurs, between living persons, it says nothing about an attempted transfer lying in wait to activate automatically once the transferee is later born.

Checking the unborn child's status against the principle's living-person condition at the exact time A attempts the transfer shows that condition unmet, so no property passes to the child.

Therefore, the correct answer is Property has not been transferred to the unborn child.