Tag Archives: Heart Balm Statute

You’ve found the right partner; you’ve found the right ring; and your fiancee accepted.  Now imagine your fiancee unexpectedly breaks off the engagement.  You are devastated.  Your friends tell you there are plenty of fish in the sea.  You’ve returned her favorite CDs and she’s returned your college sweatshirt. But who keeps the engagement ring? The Virginia Supreme Court recently decided this very question in the case of McGrath v. Dockendorf, No. 160262, 2016 WL 7243097 (Va. 2016).  In McGrath, Ethan proposed to his fiancee Julia with an impressive two-carat, $26,000.00 engagement ring. Julia accepted and took the ring.  About …