According to E! Online, actors Emma Roberts and Evan Peters have called
off their engagement. Roberts, niece of famed actress Julia Roberts, and
Peters, from X-Men: Days of Future Past, were together for three years.
In many cultures, a marriage proposal is accompanied by a gift of an engagement
ring. If the couple ultimately does not marry, it is not always clear
whether the recipient of the engagement ring should give it back to the
partner who bought/acquired it.
In Ontario, courts have varied in their approaches regarding the ownership
of engagement rings where the proposed marriage does not ultimately take
place. There is some case law that supports the view that engagement rings
are “conditional gifts” and that the ring must be returned.
In these conditional gift cases, the courts look at who broke off the
engagement. If the gift giver (the donor) broke off the engagement, then
the recipient (the donee) is entitled to keep the ring. However, if the
donee called off the engagement, then she must return the ring.
Other courts have held that an engagement ring is an unconditional gift
and does not have to be returned, regardless of who called off the engagement
or was “to blame” for the end of the parties’ engagement.
Still there are other cases that suggest that a donor may insist that the
donee return the ring, but the donor must request the ring to be returned
immediately after the engagement is broken off. If the donor does not
ask for the ring back when the engagement is broken right away, he is
prohibited from demanding it later. Delaying the request for the ring
to be returned may suggest that the ring’s character has changed from
a conditional gift to an unconditional gift.
If Roberts and Peters resided in Ontario and disagreed as to whether Roberts
should return the engagement ring to Peters, it is unclear how a court
would decide their case. It depends on who broke off the engagement ring,
if Peters demanded the return of the ring immediately after the engagement
was broken, and whether the parties and the judge considered the ring
to be conditional upon marriage or an unconditional, absolute gift. While
etiquette suggests that it is polite to give back the ring, it is unclear
whether the law requires it.