When an engagement is broken, who keeps the ring?

The evening a young couple becomes engaged is typically a romantic, idyllic occasion. The nervous, prospective groom kneels before his intended bride and offers her a ring, a sign of his love, and he asks her to be his wife. It's probably the most expensive ring he can afford. In fact, it may be more than he can afford, and he's possibly saddled himself with payments on it for months to come.

The young lady is overjoyed. She has been waiting for this moment for weeks. She accepts the ring with stars in her eyes, and as her Romeo slips it on her finger, she believes that she is probably the happiest and the luckiest girl in the world! "Of course, I'll marry you," she promises. A passionate, lingering kiss and embrace seal the agreement between the two lovers.

Let's fast forward this amorous scenario to six months later. Things have drastically changed.

Our young Juliette is once more face-to-face with her Romeo, but this time the ring is passed from her hand to his. It seems that her employer, an older, more experienced and very wealthy man, upon noticing her engagement ring, suddenly realized that he had loved her all along. He has declared his love and literally swept her off her feet. In this case, Juliette breaks their agreement and she should return the ring.

Alternately, it could have happened that Romeo, after a few drinks, had a one-night stand with a cocktail waitress, who just happened to be Juliette's second cousin. Family being family, it didn't take long for the word to reach his fiancee's fair ear. When asked to meet Juliette at her home, Romeo is confronted by both girls, and he has no defense. He is responsible for the broken agreement; he loses Juliette and the ring.

What if the engagement is broken by mutual agreement? Suppose, for the honeymoon, Juliette wants to visit her grandmother in Miami, Florida. Romeo is determined to visit his grandfather who is seriously ill in Nome, Alaska. Neither party will give in. An intense argument ensues and the engagement is broken by mutual consent. There is no more promise of marriage. The agreement to wed, made between the young couple, no longer exists.

The situation returns to what it was prior to the agreement being made. Romeo owns the ring. He may be able to return it and at least escape the obligation of making further payments. Juliette again has no ring, but she has prospects of having this one replaced in the near future by a more ostentatious one.

The best way to solve the dilemma of who keeps the engagement ring after the break-up:  the one who breaks the engagement forfeits the ring. If the engagement is broken by mutual agreement, the girl should return the ring.

In actuality, there are often so many hard feelings involved in the breakup, that possession becomes 9/10 of the law and the girl will keep the ring. Even if she knows she should return it, and he would like to have it back, neither of them wishes to be near enough to the other for the ring to be returned to its rightful owner.