04/02/2016

In my home, and no doubt in many other homes across the country, there is a huge difference of opinion about the merits of Valentine’s Day. There are those who see it as a wonderfully romantic day on which to express feelings of love and affection and others who see it as yet another day invented by retailers to make money and want no involvement with it.

Whatever your views, Valentine’s Day is still one of the most popular days to get engaged. Now that is a lot of diamonds!

As a family lawyer I am often asked who gets to keep the engagement ring if the relationship fails. Broken engagements can be very painful and upsetting, engagement rings are not cheap and emotions are often very high with each party feeling they should be entitled to keep it.

The legal position is that the gift of an engagement ring is presumed to be an absolute gift other than if the ring was given on the clear condition that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.

It will probably be a difficult conversation at the time of the proposal but, if the ring is expensive or a family heir loom, one you may need to have!

If this issues affect you and you would like a confidential chat about this or any aspect of Family Law please contact Beswicks Legal on 01782 205000 or enquiry@beswicks.com