The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has overturned a 65-year-old rule that required judges to identify and give engagement rings to the wronged party in a break-up.
“More than six decades ago, we recognized that an antenuptial ring generally is understood to be a conditional gift and determined that the donor may recover the ring following a failed engagement, but only if the donor was ‘without fault,’” the court said, according to The Boston Globe. “We now join the modern trend adopted by the majority of jurisdictions that have considered the issue and retire the concept of fault.”
The new ruling states that the engagement ring must go back to the one who purchased it “regardless of fault.”
Earlier this year, Bruce Johnson sued his former fiancée Caroline Settino over which of them should keep a $70,000 Tiffany engagement ring. Under this ruling, Settino must return the ring Johnson presented her back in 2017, even though a Plymouth Superior Court judge previously found Johnson at fault for the end of the relationship after he wrongfully accused Settino of infidelity.
Most states view an engagement ring as a “conditional gift,” and Massachusetts now joins them in returning that gift to the donor.
Johnson’s attorney, Stephanie Taverna, said the ruling ends a legal standard that forced couples to reveal intimate details about their personal relationships.
“They modernized the law in the right direction by removing fault,” she said. “That’s why it’s an important decision, because it helps parties settle issues among themselves without needing to litigate, just like the no-fault divorce statute did when that was enacted in 1975.”
