#PALM BEACH LITIGATION: FIANCEE WANTS 6.7 CARAT DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RING RETURNED
Cancelled engagements, money and gifts in a Palm Beach lawsuit
Is this a classic case of a Palm Beach lawsuit – a money dispute? Broken hearts? Broken promises? Or can we remove all the emotion from this Palm Beach litigation, sit back, and view this money dispute as nothing more than a simple legal matter?
This is a story of a Palm Beach couple that was once engaged to be married. Evidently he had money and she perhaps didn’t have as much. He bought a 6.7 carat diamond engagement ring for her, they moved in together, and he even gave her gifts of cash.
When the relationship went sour, and the engagement was broken off, he wanted the engagement ring back. She refused. So, they each hired Palm Beach litigators. Their job was to resolve the issue of: who gets to keep the engagement ring when the wedding is called off? Neither Palm Beach litigation lawyer was able to resolve that. This was a recent opinion from the Florida appeals court for Palm Beach County, Florida. It’s going back to the Palm Beach trial court.
He won at the Palm Beach trial court level on a #motion for summary judgment. A motion for summary judgment may be granted when there are no disputed issues of material fact. She appealed, arguing that there were indeed disputed issues of material fact. She argued that the ownership of the engagement ring did not depend on a #Florida legal case, but rather on the facts, which were in dispute. …….A Palm Beach trial was needed, not a #motion for summary judgment. The appeals court agreed with her and sent this #Palm Beach litigation back down to the Palm Beach trial court.
This was a #Florida family law case in some regards. Many probate lawsuits, like this very recent case, decided literally a few days ago, involve Florida lawsuits aboutpersonal property. Many people hire #Palm Beach litigators to wage legal battles over jewelry, personal property, #heirlooms, as well as cash, brokerage accounts, and mutual funds. Many times, the Florida legal question is: who gets to keep the Palm Beach jewelry? Or, who gets to keep all the money? It often revolves around whether there was a valid Florida gift. If there was a valid Florida gift, then the recipient gets to keep it. If there was not a valid Florida gift, the Palm Beach trial court needs to figure out what happened, and who gets it. In this particular case, the #Palm Beach appeals court didn’t rule on who gets the engagement ring, or whether a Florida gift was made
This Florida lawsuit involving personal property was decided by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which is the Florida appeals court for Palm Beach County, Florida lawsuits. This Palm Beach appeals court sits in West Palm Beach, Florida.
FOR REFERRAL SOURCES, LAWYERS AND LITIGATORS
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Our West Palm Beach, Florida probate litigation firm :
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We have been involved in high profile, nine figure, multi-million-dollar #Florida estates, including Madoff matters, old # Palm Beach money and complex trusts and multi-party Florida probates. We also handle “small” or “simple” matters. All we do is litigate and help you with Florida estate and trust administration. Tortious interference with an inheritance and allegations of undue influence, and will challenges and trust challenges are a unique subspecialty of the law. Does your client know which ones to file, when to do that, and why? Do you know the different ways to prove each case? How about quantifying or assessing damages? It would be our pleasure to work with you and to serve your clients. For a complete copy of this very recent legal opinion please email michelle@pankauskilawfirm.com.
John Pankauski, www.johnpankauski.com, is the author of The Trustee’s Book – An Individual’s Guide To Money, Misfits, Marriages, and Mismanagement, and the upcoming The $41 Trillion Inheritance War. He is an estate and trust litigator in West Palm Beach, Florida. www.pankauskilawfirm.com and has been featured on the CBS Evening News, in The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, NBC, ABC and Fox networks.