Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia
engagement ring
My fiancee and I broke up after a 6 month engagement, during that time he paid some bills off for me and now that we are no longer together wants to keep the engagement ring. The problem is 2 of the diamonds in the 3 stone ring are family heirlooms the 3rd stone he purchased, I don't care about the stone he bought only want my diamonds back, he said when I pay off my ''loans'' he will give them to me. I did not ask him to pay off my bills. I left my home and gave up my job for this man, and now am living with friends and looking for employment as I was to be a stay at home mom with this man. Do I need to pay him back to get my diamonds, which by the way the ring was a Christmas present and I have a letter from the jewler stating they were ''my diamonds''.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: engagement ring
The legal issue is whether the payoff of some of your bills by your former fiance was a gift to you or a loan.
If the former, then there's no need to pay him back; if the latter then yes, you would need to pay him back as you would with any other loan.
However, the return of your diamonds is really a separate issue. If they're yours, then he should return them immediately to you and not attempt to "hold them hostage", so to speak, until you can repay him for bills which he supposedly paid in your behalf and for which you may not even be legally responsible(if these payoffs were in fact intended as gifts).
In order to expedite the return of your diamonds, you could file what's called a warrant in detinue in the local general district court for the
return of your property. (I suspect that by the time he's served with papers by the local sheriff's deputy, you'll have your diamonds back.)
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