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INTERSPOUSAL GIFTS - RINGS
© 1995 National Legal Research Group, Inc.
NEW YORK: Chase v. Chase, ___ A.D.2d ___, 618 N.Y.S.2d 94 (1994).
The husband was entitled to share equally in the value of the diamond ring which he had given to the wife.
When the parties divorced, the trial court awarded the wife a diamond ring which the husband had given to her. On appeal, he claimed that the ring was marital property and that the distribution should be adjusted to reflect the fact that the wife had been awarded the ring.
The New York appeals court agreed with the husband that the ring was marital property. The wife would be required to pay the husband $6,000, representing one-half of the appraised retail value of the ring, and that payment would be made by charging the wife against her share of the proceeds from the sale of the marital residence, the court directed.
To determine the classification of interspousal gifts, the court looked to the language of the New York equitable distribution statute, which states that marital property includes all property acquired during marriage other than separate property. Separate property, as defined by statute, includes a "gift from a party other than the spouse." N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law S 236(B) (McKinney 1986). Thus, the court held, by negative implication, gifts from one spouse to the other are marital property subject to equitable distribution. Accordingly, the "gift" of the diamond ring, from the husband to the wife during the marriage, was marital property subject to equitable distribution. The husband was entitled to an equal share of the ring's value, just as the trial court had divided the other assets equally, the court decided.
In a recent South Dakota case, Osman v. Keating-Osman , 521 N.W.2d 655 (S.D. 1994), the husband pointed out that the trial court had not considered the fact that he spent $3,100 on a wedding ring for the wife. The state's high court held, however, that the ring was a gift which had no bearing on the property division or alimony award. It was a "sad commentary" on the parties' failed marriage that he offered the price of a wedding ring as evidence of property contribution, the court declared. Id. at 659 n.2.
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