How are debts owed to family members dealt with in divorce proceedings?
The first question for the court to determine is whether the debts are legitimate, and this is a...
In some cultures, it is common for members of the bride’s family to gift jewellery to the husband at the wedding, and members of the husband’s family to gift jewellery to the bride. If the parties subsequently separate, the parties may want the gifted jewellery to be returned to the family that gifted it.
If the parties agree upon returning the jewellery to the respective families, then there are no issues and the parties can proceed to do that. When the financial arrangements of the divorce are finalised, the agreement with regard to jewellery can be recorded in the Court order to say the jewellery has been returned or will be returned on a specific date.
The difficulty arises if the other party is not in agreement to return the items and wishes to keep the jewellery that they received. As the items were ‘gifted’- there is no automatic assumption that they ought to be returned as a legal right. A gift means that they do belong to the other person and so if they wanted to keep the items, it would likely need to be considered as part of the overall financial settlement. Particularly if the items are of high value, it may be a factor in contested financial proceedings.
To avoid any potential difficulties, parties should agree at the outset of the marriage in writing that the jewellery is not an outright gift. This could take the form of a pre-nuptial contract as one potential solution.
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For further information, please contact Aimee Stokes, a Family Law Solicitor based in our Wolverhampton Office on 01902 328 355.
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