WHAT IS FLORIDA’S POSITION ON ENGAGEMENT AND WEDDING RINGS?
Whether or not your marriage ends in divorce or your engagement if broken off, you may be wondering if you need to give your ring back. Engagement rings and wedding rings can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars, to tens of thousands of dollars or more, so it should be no surprise that many people are curious about what happens to these wedding and engagement rings after divorce. In Florida, one of the most important factors in considering who gets to keep the engagement ring is whether or not the wedding ever took place. Florida law considers an engagement ring to be a conditional gift, and if you get married, you have met that condition of the agreement and are not usually required to return the ring. However, if the wedding is called off, you may need to give the ring back.
Many courts differ in their assessment of the situation and may consider who broke off the engagement when determining whether a party needs to return the ring or not. If the recipient stopped the marriage from going forward, they may be required to give it back, because they are the cause of the condition of the gift not being met. On the other hand, if the giver of the ring calls the wedding off, the recipient is not the one who broke the agreement and may be able to keep the ring.
All of this depends on the details and unique circumstances of each case. What about the wedding ring after divorce? Unless there is a Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement in place that stipulates what happens to the wedding ring after a divorce, the recipient is often entitled to keep it. In Florida, wedding rings are not subject to equitable distribution after a marriage ends in divorce. However, it is possible to recover the ring through litigation if it has significant value as a family heirloom and was identified as such prior to the marriage taking place. While there is no specific statute covering wedding or engagement rings that are family heirlooms, you may be able to recover it by working out some out-of-court agreement pertaining to same.
