You spent thousands of dollars on an engagement ring before you proposed. Your partner said yes and you got married. Fast forward seven years, though, and they have now filed for divorce.
You know that all of the items you bought together during the marriage have to be divided, as marital assets always do. But what about that ring? Your partner did not pay for it and you bought it before the wedding, so shouldn’t they have to give it back to you now that they want to end the marriage? After all, you only gave it to them when they agreed to marry you, and that’s now over.
The engagement ring was a conditional gift
The idea above does touch on one key point: In Florida, engagement rings are conditional gifts. The condition is that your partner agreed to marry you and so you became engaged.
Here’s where it gets tricky, though. The condition was that you would get married, not that you would stay married. If your partner breaks up with you while you’re engaged, they have to give the ring back. If they ask for a divorce after you get married, though, they can argue that they already fulfilled the condition and they can then keep the ring, which now belongs to them.
Dividing property can be difficult
As you can see, dividing assets in a divorce can get more complicated and contentious than you’d like. As you move forward with this process, you must know about all of the legal options that you have at your disposal to protect your financial interests.