Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce recently announced their engagement alongside pictures of a very impressive engagement ring. No doubt the Swift/Kelce Love Story is one which will stand the test of time but a ring that special might lead us to consider what happens when there is Bad Blood. This is a surprisingly complex area of law with interesting origins.
The starting point is that an engagement ring is a gift, which transfers ownership from the person gifting it to the recipient. However, this is only the case if the gift was unconditional.
The legal position is may be dependent on whether the engagement ring can be shown to have been a conditional gift. If it was given with the condition that a marriage must follow, and that marriage then didn’t take place, it ought to be returned to the person who gifted it.
Proving that an engagement ring was or wasn’t conditional upon marriage is likely to be difficult. There is a suggestion that engagement rings that are family heirlooms are more likely to be presumed to be given conditionally.
The law in this area has its origins in Roman Law and the term condictio causa data causa non secuta, referring to a transfer of property for a purpose which ultimately fails to transpire. Scottish institutional writers in the seventeenth and eighteen century stated that engagement rings fell to be returned if the anticipated wedding did not take place, but the institutional writers were probably less familiar with the idea that an engagement might not necessarily be intended to result in a marriage than we are.
If two people are living together but are unmarried (cohabiting) and that relationship ends, there is a presumption that each cohabitant has a right to an equal share of household goods, but this doesn’t include jewellery or personal items.
Gifts between spouses during a marriage are treated differently. Their value falls into the matrimonial property which stands to be divided fairly on divorce. This may include wedding rings - depending on the point at which they were exchanged - and eternity rings. It is worth noting that it is the value of these items at the date of separation, not value at the time of acquisition, which is included.
Opting for something a little less Bejewelled, like Paper Rings, might be the answer to avoiding a tricky legal dispute, but getting the correct family law advice is likely to be most helpful.
At Thorntons, we have a dedicated and experienced Family Law team. For more information please contact a member of the Family team on 03330 430150.
