Can a Woman Keep the Ring If She Breaks the Engagement?
Occasionally, a young woman will ask whether she has a legal obligation to return her engagement ring after the plans to marry have fallen apart. And, each time, I have said “it depends” on the exact circumstances of her engagement and how the court interprets those circumstances, assuming the question ever goes to trial. In Missouri, there have been two separate lines of case law on this matter. One holds that an engagement ring is simply a gift and that a gift once given does not impose on its receiver any legal obligation to return it no matter what may transpire subsequently. Thus, the man that presents his “intended” with an engagement ring has no more right to expect its return when the nuptials are cancelled than does a dinner guest that provides the host with a very fine bottle of wine expecting it to be served, if that wine never makes it to the table. However, it is equally well-accepted that a ring given in combination with a proposal of marriage is a “conditional gift” give
