My fiance SUED me for my $45,000 diamond ring when we broke up four months after getting engaged. There’s no way I’m giving it back
A woman who broke up with her fiancé four months after he proposed has won a legal battle to keep the $45,000 diamond engagement ring he gave her.
The couple, who were given the pseudonyms Katie River and Steve Lambert by the New Zealand Family Court to protect their identities, had been together for years before he proposed in 2022.
The engagement was not a happy one and they split after four months, with Mr Lambert, who was 40 at the time, wanting to return the three-stone platinum ring – or the amount he paid for it.
But Ms River, who was in her late 20s at the time, refused and also obtained a temporary protection order against him on the grounds of physical and psychological abuse.
Mr. Lambert denied these allegations, which were eventually settled New Zealand herald reported.
A woman has won a lawsuit in which she was sued by her ex-fiancé to return the $45,000 three-stone diamond engagement ring in a platinum setting that he gave her. stock photo of ring
The court heard that Mr Lambert was a company director and had far more wealth than Ms River when their relationship began during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
Ms River moved in with her partner and they tried to start a family, even making appointments at a fertility clinic.
Mr. Lambert suggested that she quit her job and work for him as an executive assistant instead, which she did.
He then used the New Zealand government's Covid wage subsidy to pay her.
But she ended up doing mostly domestic work and selling second-hand items, while the wage subsidy paid for living costs, the court heard.
When the pandemic lockdown ended, Ms River found it difficult to find work in her background area of hospitality, so she continued to work for Mr Lambert.
She said she helped him sell two of his properties – although Mr Lambert disputed the extent to which she had helped – and he bought a new house, which the couple moved into.
After the couple split four months after their engagement, Ms River moved back to her parents' house because she had no savings and no job.
Mr. Lambert agreed to pay her $10,000, which she used to pay her legal fees for the domestic violence case and to prepare for the case to keep her ring.
Her lawyers said they were surprised he claimed to get the ring back because they believed the domestic violence settlement had ended all disputes between them.
Ms. River ran out of money to pay her lawyers and represented herself in a number of court hearings before dropping out of the case.
Ultimately, Family Court Judge Andrea Manuel denied Mr. Lambert's request to get the ring or its equivalent back from his ex.
The couple's engagement was not a happy one and they separated after four months. Pictured is a stock photo of a couple following a line
The judge said Mr Lambert was thinking that it was necessary to get the ring back to restore him to the financial position he was in before he became engaged.
But Judge Manuel said there was no evidence of how much the ring was worth and that there was any difficulties in isolating one piece of property when the couple had been in a de facto relationship for two and a half years.
“If a single item, such as the ring, is treated in a vacuum and the parties' contributions to property and to the relationship overall are dismissed, there may be an injustice,” she said.
The judge said that if the court ruled in Mr Lambert's favour, there would be a risk that if Ms River did not have the ring or returned it, she would have to pay him more than it was worth.