A grandson claimed to own an apartment, contended to have been given to him as a gift by his grandmother while she was still alive, in contrast to her will, in which she bequeathed the apartment to her daughter.
The Court dismissed the claim because of unconscionability. Unconscionability is defined as an engagement that was made as a result of the exploitation of the other by one of the parties, or another on its behalf, by exploiting the other's distress, mental or physical weakness and lack of experience, and that the terms of the contract are unreasonably worse than normal. Unconscionability is based on the situation of the beneficiary and the behavior of the beneficiary, by reviewing the tests of independence, assistance, the relations of the benefactor with others, the circumstances of the drafting of the qualifying document and the test of counseling. Here, the grandmother was an illiterate nursing patient, the grandson isolated her from the rest of the family and he was the one who initiated the process and brought her to the lawyer for the gift agreement. Thus, the gift transaction was done under conditions of unconscionability and is therefore void.