Neighbor News
Valentine's Day Bliss
What you need to know before you pop the big question this Valentine's Day.
by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
Valentine’s Day is well known as a day in which love is in the air and as one of the most popular days people get engaged to be married. While the majority of marriage proposals end up in the couple actually getting married, an estimated 10- 15 % do not make it to the altar. In those cases not only does the couple have to deal with potential heartbreak, but sometimes they also have to deal with the all important legal question as to who gets to keep the often bank account draining engagement ring. The answer is that it depends.
If the engagement ring was intended to be given as an unconditional gift which includes the elements of delivery, intent to give as a gift and acceptance, then the recipient of the ring will generally have exclusive rights to the ring. More often, an engagement ring is given as a conditional gift in contemplation of marriage. If that is the case, then it depends what state you are in.
In the growing majority of states, when an engagement ring is given as a conditional gift in contemplation of marriage and the couple does not get married, the person who gave the ring is entitled to get the ring back. In this growing majority of states, which includes New York, this is true no matter who is at fault for the break up. The reason for this is largely based on the fact that these courts have no desire to walk through a couple’s emotional field of weeds in order to determine who caused the break up.
Read the full article at http://www.liattorney.com/scales-of-justice/valentines-day-bliss
