Wedding jewellery is an emotional and sometimes high value investment in ones’ life and represent symbols of one’s love. Oops! but what happens with your engagement and wedding rings after divorce?
Princess Diana.
It is important to decide the worth of the engagement, wedding rings, jewellery gifts and watches because If the jewellery pieces has a high value compared to other assets it may make the overall financial settlement difficult to do.
The UK legislation under Section 3(2) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970 (2) states that the gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift; this presumption may be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the condition, express or implied, that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.
Katie Holmes got to keep her jewellery following her divorce to Tom Cruise and Princess Diana kept her jewellery after divorce to Prince Charles.
There are some engagement rings considered as family heirlooms that family members pass down for generations. The husband’s family line might want the family heirloom back. However, this conception is hard to impose, as the word heirloom is not defined in UK law.
A prenuptial agreement will help reduce disputes over heirlooms and jewellery etc, if the marriage ends.
Resources
Jewellery Resource for valuation
- Jewellery Designers from British Jewellery Association;
- Goldsmiths company( http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/) and
- Hatton Gardens Jewellers.
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