Gift

[lls66]

My husband gave me a diamond ring for our 10th anniversary. I left him the following year. (Our divorce was final in Dec 99) He harrassed me for months, and during the course of this harrassment demanded the ring back. Stupidly, I agreed just to get him off my back. I asked for it back a short time later and several times since, and he refuses, saying I 'owed it to him for sticking him with all the bills when I left'. I tried to argue that the value of the furniture, etc. I left with him exceeds what he thinks I should 'owe' him, and he should return the ring to me. He still refuses. I say that since it was a gift, he has absolutely no right to the ring anyway, and his keeping it is tantamount to theft. The fact that I saw the ring on his live-in fiancee/whatever has only served to inflame the issue because he has told me for months that he 'couldn't find it anyway.' Please help. I am in Ohio.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

You should never have given the ring back to him. And, that's what you did - - you "gave" it. In other words, you "gifted" it to him. You have no more rights to the ring.

IAAL

 

[lls66]

I have no rights, even though I was under extreme durress from his harrassment? Had he not been hassling me, I would *never* have given it back.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

In the law, it doesn't matter, unless he was holding a gun to your head, or had kidnapped your sister for ransom.

As long as he wasn't physically forcing you to remove that ring from your finger, you gifted that ring to him.

IAAL

 

[LegalBeagle]

I have no rights, even though I was under extreme durress from his harrassment? Had he not been hassling me, I would *never* have given it back.

All you had to do was file a criminal complaint and then file a restraining order. You surely did not believe it is ok in the US for a person to legally harass you?

 

[Grandma B]

Of course she didn't! However, I think it wasn't a big deal until the ring ended up on someone else's finger.