incident of ownership

Instance of a legal interest or right in any type of property. It imparts the power to benefit from or to change, modify, or use an asset, and is used in taxation as an evidence of ownership. For example, if a building owner gives it away as a gift but keeps the right to receive rent from it then, from the tax point of view, no gift was made. In insurance, incident of ownership translates into the power to change the policy's beneficiary, to pledge the policy for loan, to assign the policy, and to surrender or cancel the policy.

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