MWERE - Wedding Engagement Ring Etiquette

[maverick73]

Just curious... if a man gives a woman a wedding engagement ring and the two split up, isn't it proper etiquette for the woman to give it back?

Some of the following situations I've heard of are as follows:

1. Woman keeps it as a "keep sake" to remember the first person to ever propose to her, even though she moves on to somebody else in her life. If that wasn't her first engagement, perhaps she has a thing for "collecting" engagement rings.

2. Woman sells it due to financial hardship and keeps the money.

3. Woman sells it as an act of revenge even if she doesn't need the money and keeps the money.

I would think the only proper thing to do is for the woman to offer to return it and then it is up to the guy to make the call... he could keep it, and then when the time comes to propose again, trade it in for another one... or he could just tell the woman to go ahead and do what she wants with it.

 

[old pooner]

MPOV. If she says yes to the proposal, the ring becomes her property and can do what she likes with it, if they split up. If she says no to the proposal, he gets the ring back. (If they get married and then divorced, the rings are still hers)

 

[maverick73]

MPOV. If she says yes to the proposal, the ring becomes her property and can do what she likes with it, if they split up. If she says no to the proposal, he gets the ring back. (If they get married and then divorced, the rings are still hers)

Ok so here is another scenario... what if she initiates the breakup... isn't it proper ETIQUETTE for her to return the ring? If he initiates the breakup, then I guess you could argue she gets to do what she wants with it for being put thru all the emotional trouble. If it's a mutual split, tough call.

I agree about the divorced part after marriage... each keeps their rings.

 

[Lady Companion]

She should give it back regardless of the situation (or at least offer)

The ring symbolizes a committment to get married. It's a contract of sorts. When that changes, regardless of who initiates it, the ring should be returned to the purchaser. I don't feel that this rule would apply necessarily to other gifts or jewlery - but certainly for an engagment ring (though I could see her wanting to keep it out of spite if he was the one to call it off)

 

[rollerboy]

It depends on jurisdiction. Convention holds that the ring should be returned.

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/cat...20B2B-1C65-4E77-92A0ADC4FA3EDC2A/118/304/ART/

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.

PS - I WANT MY RECORDS BACK!!!! I WANT MY RECORDS BACK!!!!

 

[namara]

The guy breaks it off she keeps it.
She breaks it off (through no fault of the guy), she returns it.