Massachusetts Court Rules that Woman Must Return $70,000 Engagement Ring to Ex-Fiancé – Law Blog

Bruce Johnson bought an engagement ring for about $70,000 and proposed to Caroline Settino on Cape Cod. The couple was engaged in 2017. Johnson and Settino broke up a short while later. Johnson accused Settino of being verbally abusive and having an affair when he discovered a textual content message on Settino’s telephone. Settino denied having an affair and claimed the person she was texting was only a good friend.  

Johnson broke up with Settino earlier than they had been married. Johnson sued Settino, claiming he was the rightful proprietor of the engagement ring. Johnson primarily based his lawsuit on a regulation that permitted one to retrieve the engagement ring they gave their accomplice in the event that they weren’t at “fault” for the breakup. 

The trial court docket decide initially dominated that Settino may preserve the ring after figuring out that Johnson had referred to as off the engagement. Johnson appealed the ruling in September 2023. A Massachusetts Appellate Court docket dominated in his favor in November 2024, discovering that Johnson had behaved fairly in ending the engagement.  

After Johnson and Settino started relationship in 2016, he took her on journeys and acquired her jewellery, purses, and footwear. In 2017, Johnson requested Settino’s father for permission to marry her, and Johnson proposed afterward. Johnson and Settino deliberate their wedding ceremony for September 2018. 

Johnson alleges that within the fall of 2017, his fiancé turned “crucial and unsupportive of him.” Johnson claims that Settino yelled at him, referred to as him a moron, and didn’t accompany him to medical appointments when he was recognized with prostate most cancers. 

Reward or Contract

The return of engagement or wedding ceremony rings is an previous debate in household regulation. The individual receiving the ring might contend that the ring is a present. Presents are given with out consideration or any anticipated return in worth. Presents are frequent in romantic relationships so the considered an engagement or wedding ceremony ring as a present is just not an uncommon thought.  

Nevertheless, the individual giving the ring may even see the ring as a contract – the receiver guarantees to marry the opposite individual in trade for the ring. Engagement rings contain literal proposals whereas wedding ceremony rings are given when literal vows are exchanged. If proposals and the trade of vows usually are not the definition of a contract, then what’s?  

Nevertheless, Massachusetts has resolved this previous debate by making it legally permissible for somebody to retrieve an engagement ring if the wedding doesn’t undergo. As a substitute, Massachusetts has adopted a “fault” primarily based system to find out whether or not a hoop needs to be returned. Trendy divorce regulation doesn’t take “fault” into consideration when a married couple splits up, so it’s ironic that Massachusetts would use the “fault” system to find out custody of an engagement ring previous to marriage itself. If Johnson is appropriate in his model of occasions although, proof of an affair and verbal abuse would doubtless be affordable grounds for ending the engagement, not to mention a wedding.  

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