Returning an Engagement Ring
If the engagement is over, state law decides who keeps the engagement ring.
The engagement is over. In addition to the sorrow, the heartbroken must deal with the question of whether the engagement ring need to be returned--along with the deposits left with the caterer, the florist, and the dressmaker.
State courts around the nation that have considered the issue -- whether a bride can keep the engagement ring or whether she must return it -- have reached different conclusions.
When Is a Gift a Gift?
Courts generally treat the engagement ring as a gift, from the donor (the person who gave the ring) to the donee (the person who received it). To be considered a legal gift, three things must be present: the donor's intent to give the ring as a gift, the donor's delivery of it to the donee, and the donee's acceptance of the item. If the person to whom the ring was given can show all three elements, a court will consider the ring to be a gift.
Conditional Gifts
However, the majority of courts also consider such a gift to be a conditional one. That means that, until some future event occurs, the gift isn't final; if that event does not occur, then the donor has the right to get the gift back. In real life, many parents use this concept by, for example, giving a teenage daughter the keys to the family car, on the condition that she maintain a certain grade point average for a specified period of time. If she doesn't make the grade, the keys must be returned.
Women who want to keep their engagement rings often argue that the condition needed to make the engagement ring a final gift is simply the acceptance of the proposal of marriage, not the completion of the marriage ceremony. That way, if the engagement is broken, the ring remains her property.
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