Fiancés and fiancées– a nebulous legal status

Mary Welstead Visiting Professor in Family Law University of Buckingham

It is questionable whether the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970 is out of date. Why should engaged couples be treated more favourably than the non-engaged with respect to financial disputes following a relationship breakdown. Lord Denning noted in Bernard v Joseph ([1982] 2 WLR 1052) that the term engagement is an ‘undetermined and indeterminable’ concept.

Social media is full of staged postings of ‘engagements’ in exotic places. They illustrate the time-honored tradition of a man kneeling on one knee to request his loved one’s hand in marriage. The woman will reveal the adornment of the third finger of her left hand.

Because the 1970 Act is silent on the meaning of the term engagement the court is left to infer whether a couple were engaged before deciding financial claims under the Act. The judiciary appear to place an emphasis on the gift of a ring (particularly an expensive one).

A couple wishing to protect gifts or rights in real property must be prepared to submit to some form of registration process of their relationship and...