A man plans to gift an antique desk to his brother. He tells his brother he will deliver the desk when he moves out of town in two weeks. An appraiser later informs him the desk is worth well over $20,000. The man keeps the desk. The brother sues to recover. Is the promise enforceable as a contract?

• A. Yes, because the donor’s promise created a binding obligation.
• B. No, because gifts do not require consideration but require delivery to be enforceable.
• C. Yes, because the desk is valuable and the promise was made.
• D. No, because there was no enforceable contract without delivery.

Answer: (D)

The key idea here is that a promise to give a gift generally isn’t enforceable as a contract because it lacks consideration—the recipient isn’t giving anything in return. A donative promise is a gratuitous promise, and without consideration there’s no binding contract.

In this scenario, the man’s promise to deliver the desk in two weeks is a future gift with no exchange of value from the brother. Since delivery hasn’t occurred and there’s no consideration or other protected reliance, there’s no enforceable contract to compel delivery. The desk’s high value doesn’t make the promise binding. If the brother had relied to his detriment on the promise (for example, sold something or took other costly steps), promissory estoppel could possibly apply, but that isn’t present in the facts as stated.

So there’s no enforceable contract without delivery, which is why the correct conclusion is that the promise is not enforceable.