Can you take back a gift?

Question

Suppose that I unconditionally and unambiguously give a person a thing such as a necklace with a moderate value (say $1000): I hand it to them and say "Here, you can have this, I don't need it anymore". Then suppose I have giver's remorse and the next day I request that it be returned. Assuming that the recipient has not relied on the fact of me giving it to them (all they would lose is the necklace), can I revoke the act of giving (so that the courts would order the return of the gift)?

Then, suppose that I intended to give necklace A but mistakenly gave necklace B which I did not intend to give: can I legally reclaim B? In case it's not clear, I am not asking how I can guarantee a take-back right prior to giving the thing, so agreements are irrelevant. As always, relevant citations appreciated.

Answer 1

No.

By handing the necklace the way you described, you commit personal property transfer as all the three requirements are met for the gift to be legally effective: donative intent, delivery and acceptance.

Once property has been transferred (no matter gift or sale), it is not yours anymore.

Answer 2

Since a question with slightly different details has been closed as a duplicate of this, I think it is neccessary to add some basics that weren't present in the original question:

A gift is basically a pretty one-sided contract. Once the deal is closed, it cannot be undone, unless specified otherwise. The other answer does a good job of explaining that.

But anything that will void and/or invalidate a contract in your juristiction, will very likely do the same thing for a gift.

For example, a minor might be allowed to void any of their contracts. So for example if your kid comes home with a brand new bike and says "oh, Alice gave it to me for free, it was a gift" be prepared for Alice's parents to show up and request the bike back, even if Alice totally meant it to be a gift.

Another example are people with mental problems, that have legal guardians appointed and cannot enter into contracts on their own. If they give something away as a gift, it might not be legally valid without approval of their legal guardian.

And last but not least, obviously giving something away that isn't yours to begin with is not a legally valid gift and doesn't mean the receiver can keep it. If you get gifted a stolen car, it still remains stolen property and you don't get to keep it.