The letter must explain who is gifting the money, where the donor's funds are coming from and the relationship between the donor and the recipient. Do you want to avoid estate tax but aren't sure how?Talk to our Alameda County estate planning attorney about gifting assets to loved ones. A gift letter is a piece of legal, written correspondence explicitly stating that money received isn't expected to be repaid. Make sure you get a gift letter upfront from the donor. California doesn't enforce a gift tax, but you may owe a federal one. So no potential consequences of gift tax. A down payment can be hard to come by. One option is to be gifted the money, but this has certain requirements, such as a gift letter. A gift letter is an important, formal, legal piece of documentation that can help explain that a (usually rather large) sum of money was gifted to you.