who gets to keep the ring after an engagement is broken off?

Answer 1

If the woman breaks the engagement, she must give the ring back. If the man breaks the engagement, the woman does not have to give back the ring, but she may choose to.

Answer 2

Under the law, the engagement ring is generally treated as a gift. The elements of a legal gift are: (1) the gift-giver's intent to give the item as a gift; (2) the gift-giver's delivery of the gift to the recipient; and (3) the recipient's acceptance of the gift. Gifts, of course, generally become the property of the recipient. However... The majority of courts consider an engagement ring to be a "conditional gift." A conditional gift is one in which some future event must occur in order to finalize the gift. In most cases, courts consider the wedding itself to be the future event that must occur in order to finalize the gift of the engagement ring. If the wedding does not take place, if the engagement is broken, the gift does not get finalized, and thus the ring reverts back to the gift-giver. In other words, the ring must be returned. Recipients often argue that the ring was given as a gift not in contemplation of marriage, but as something else, such as a token of love and affection, or as a memento of a romantic trip to the Caribbean. Others argue that the condition of the gift was not the wedding itself but the acceptance of the proposal. These arguments usually fail. Courts are in disagreement as to whether "fault" should be taken into consideration when deciding who gets to keep the engagement ring. The majority of courts apply what is commonly referred to as the "fault-based rule." Simply stated, if the man broke the engagement, the woman keeps the ring; if the woman called off the wedding, she must return the ring. While at first glance this may seem fair, if you delve deeper, the logic does not always work. What if, for instance, the woman's mother is actually the indirect cause of the break-up, though it is the man who officially calls off the ceremony? The courts simply cannot be asked to determine which grounds for breaking an engagement should be considered fault and which are justified. Thus, there is a trend toward a "no-fault" approach. Simply stated, at the end of an engagement, the ring reverts to the gift-giver regardless of fault. In other words, she has to return the ring no matter what. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Iowa all currently apply the no-fault approach. I had a friend whose fiance broke off the engagement two weeks before the wedding! They ended up in court over the ring. My friend ended up winning the ring in the lawsuit, actually her parents did, to compensate for all of the wedding expenses (deposit for caterer, flowers, invitations that were already sent out, reception hall deposit, wedding dress & veil, etc.) paid out by them that were non-refundable. Many people ask why a woman would want to keep the ring. Well, that's a perfect example of why!

Answer 3

In all fairness - - the person who paid for the ring should retain the ring AFTER an engagement is broken off ...

But ... under the rules of etiquette -- if the gentleman breaks off the engagement, then the female gets to keep the ring ...

and if the female breaks off the engagement, then it goes back to the male.

Answer 4

Actually - for the perosn who said legally it belongs to the bride:

According to US law, an engagment ring is a conditional gift - meaning that unliek most gifts, it is given with certain conditions attached (in this case, the wedding). If the wedding is called off, the conditions have not been meet and the ring legally belongs to the person who paid for it.

SOme exceptions have been made. It the wedding is called off by the groom without just cause - or by the bride because the groom was caught cheating, etc - then the courts have ruled for the bride.

But - if the bride calls off the wedding, the couple decides to call it off mutually - or the groom calls it off becuase of misbehavior on the bride's part - the ring then must be returned.

Answer 5

If the engagement is broken off, and is really off then give the ring back. Why would anyone want to be reminded of a bad engagement. The reason will be there every time you look at the ring. If the reason was that bad then who wants to remember.

Answer 6

The ring is given as a gift on the condition of acceptance of marriage. If the engagement is called off for what ever reason the ring must be given back. If the one who offered the ring refuses the rings return then you are free to keep the ring and do with it as you please.

Answer 7

Oooooh that's a tough one!! I've seen it go both ways, both in courts and out of it.

Some people say that an engagement ring is a gift, and when the relationship is broken off, you don't go returning every gift you ever got while you were dating, do you?

On the other hand, the engagement ring is like a contract... it is given with the explicit expectation that it is a contract to promise to marry. If that contract is not completed, then the ring should be given back...

It's a tough one. Basically... my theory is WHO broke it off? If your man broke it off, SCREW that and keep the freaking ring. That was his decision. But if you broke it off... don't be a B*#ch and give him back his expensive ring... he'll get a 1/3 of what he spent on it back, but at least it's something since he doesn't have your love anymore....

Answer 8

The man gets the engagement ring back, this is even a legal issue. An engagement ring, is a gift contracting marriage, if the wedding is called off, the ring belongs to the man, even if it was given as a birthday, or Xmas gift.

Answer 9

An engagement is an oral agreement, and the ring is symbolic of that. The ring has to then be given back if the agreement is broken. Only a wedding ring is the girls to keep if something goes bad. Otherwise legally he has the right to sue you in court for the engagement ring if you do not go through with a marriage.

Answer 10

Check Miss Manners, Dear Abby, and Emily Post.

If the engagement is broken by either person, the ring is returned to the person who bought it; typically, this is the man.

The ring is given contingent on a promise to marry. If he proposed and you said no, you wouldn't expect to still keep the ring, would you? You only get the ring if you are going to get married. If the promise of marriage is broken, then the ring is returned.

Answer 11

Whoever paid for it.

Traditionally, the ring is a "promise" to marry, so it doesn't matter who breaks the engagement. If the couple doesn't wed, then the woman should not keep it.

This happened to me but I paid for the ring (I put it on my credit card with the intent of my ex-fiance paying the monthly bill). I kept the ring since it was on my credit and past the time for me to take it back to the store.