Who Gets the Engagement Ring When the Wedding is Canceled?

In most states where engagement rings are considered conditional gifts, the recipient remains the owner of the ring only if the marriage condition is met. If the couple separates, the engagement ring is usually returned to the purchaser. Some men plan an entire week around proposing, choosing to do so during a dream vacation, at their favorite restaurant, or even while eating at home by candlelight. Celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Michael Bublé have also raised awareness about this practice by wearing their own engagement rings.

Cultures around the world have their own traditions surrounding this custom. The question of who gets the engagement ring if the wedding is canceled is sometimes worded with terms based on fault, rather than whether the condition of the marriage is met. Most states consider the engagement ring to be a conditional gift. However, over the past ten years in the United States, the use of a men's engagement ring has been gaining momentum. In Chile, it's customary for men to wear an engagement ring on their right ring finger instead of the left.

While this may still be the most common practice among women and men, it's certainly not the only way or finger to wear an engagement ring. In other countries, especially Chile and Sweden, it has been commonly accepted practice for men to wear engagement rings for quite some time. Engagement rings for men are as much an expression of individual taste and personality as engagement rings for women, and there are styles that match. A guilt-based approach to determining who gets the engagement ring when the wedding is canceled states that the person who broke the engagement should not be allowed to keep it. In the 1920s in the United States, Macy's launched an advertising campaign for men's engagement rings, but it didn't take off. Therefore, if a wedding is canceled, the guilty person must return the ring to the other person.

You could take your partner to a quiet destination for a weekend and choose a special moment to take out your engagement ring and ask them to marry you. Here's a more detailed analysis of what the law says about who gets the engagement ring when a wedding is canceled. If everything goes as planned, then this piece of jewelry will be one of many material elements that will define this union.