legally who gets the ring???....when an engaged couple breaks up...?

Question

we all have an opinion on who should get the ring, but i want to know LEGALLY who is entitled to it??

Answer 1

State courts around the nation that have considered the ring issue have reached differing 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 to him or her.

Conditional Gifts
But 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.

But this argument often loses. The majority of courts find that the gift of an engagement ring contains an implied condition of marriage; acceptance of the proposal is not the underlying "deal." Absent some other understanding -- say, that the ring is merely a memento of a great trip to Hawaii -- most courts look at engagement rings as conditional gifts given in contemplation of marriage: "Once it is established the ring is an engagement ring, it is a conditional gift." Heiman v. Parrish, 942 P.2d 631, 633 (Kan. 1997). However, the Supreme Court of Montana has come down on the opposite side of this fence, rejecting the conditional gift theory and declaring that an engagement ring is an unconditional, completed gift and that's that. Ex-fiances in that western state are unlikely to get help from the courts if they want to get an engagement ring back. Albinger v. Harris, 2002 WL 1226858 (Mont. 2002).

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Answer 2

The ring was a gift to you and legally is yours. There was no contract when it was given stating that if it doesn't work out the ring reverts back to the giver. Whether you choose to keep it or not depends on how you feel about the giver of the gift. Most people seem to be willing to give it back but you are not obligated to do so.

Answer 3

There was legal precedent established in the case of a couple who broke off their engagement. The judge ruled that the girl had to give the ring back as it was not a gift, but a "payment" that was given in consideration of marriage, which never materialized, making the contract void.

Answer 4

The ring was given to you as a contract. Will you marry me and all that jazz. He gives ring, you keep ring, you get married.

Now who gets it.
He gets it if you break it off with him

You get the ring if he broke the contract by lets say banging another girl or something

Mutual break up he gets the ring.

I went through this so I know legal wise.

He get the ring unless he did you wrong where he broke the contract.

Answer 5

The ring belongs to the intended groom. It was given with the intention of marriage, which is a contract, if the marriage does not take place the contract has been broken and the ring returns to the intended groom.

There is one exception that can be taken under consideration and that is if the groom himself called off the wedding. A court may allow the intended bride to keep the ring.

Peace.

Answer 6

It actually depends on the state you're in. Oddly enough we discussed just this thing in my College english class the other day and the laws of it. Some states the woman keeps it, some the man gets it back. It can also depend on who called it off. I know I live in TN and legally the man gets it back no matter what.

Answer 7

if you are not married or still engagned when you break up the man is entitled to the ring. it is a material good given with the verbal promise to marry. if the contract is now null he can ask for it back and if you do not give it you have commited theft. but if he does not ask for it back with in a reasonable time then you can claim it. but why would you want it?

Answer 8

The woman gets to keep the ring, it was given as a "gift", and even if things don't work out, its still hers. Now, she could choose to give it back, why would anyone want to keep it in the first place. But to your question, she can keep it.

Answer 9

If it's truly a gift, the woman keeps it, but it is customary , if it were her decision to break it off, to give it back.
If he breaks it off , but the ring was of sentimental value to him, like it was his mothers or in the family a long time, He gets it back.

Answer 10

In our part of the world, each member (i.e., each of them constituting the engaged couple) gets a wedding ring, gifted from the opposite party.