Michigan Law States You MUST Return Your Engagement Ring If…

As the great Neil Sedaka once said, breakin' up is hard to do. Maybe the person you proposed to didn't end up being the person you thought they were, or maybe things just didn't work out. Either way, you are no longer going to get married to this person and you're going your separate ways.

But who gets to keep the engagement ring? It's one of those things that people don't really consider, but many states have different opinions about how to handle it. In Michigan, it took the Court of Appeals to decide who gets to keep it. 

It's not a surprise people will want a definitive answer on who technically owns the ring. These puppies are not cheap. Plus, you need to buy a wedding AND engagement ring. Double whammy. Schmitt Law, PLLC answers this conundrum quite simply:

In Michigan, you must return an engagement ring if you did not get married. Why? Because the engagement ring was a gift conditioned on the marriage taking place. So, if there was no marriage, the ring must be returned.

If the marriage took place, the engagement and wedding ring are considered gifts and do not need to be returned if you get a divorce. If the marriage doesn't take place, the ring buyer legally still owns it and should get it back.

What decided this ruling?

A 2001 the Michigan Court of Appeals heard a case about a Detroit couple that got engaged but quickly broke off the engagement after Robyn Mitnick refused to sign a pre-nuptial to Barry Meyer. Barry spent a whopping $20,000 on a custom ring and demanded it back, but she refused to return it since he was the one who called off the engagement.

The court ended up siding with Barry, setting the standard for all legal proceedings since then. In the end, whoever proposed gets to keep the engagement ring since the condition to keep the ring, marriage, did not happen. As my teacher in high school always said, there are benefits to going first.