Morally: it is your family heirloom, get it and pass it along to whomever.
Legally: This is a matter of “gift in consideration of marriage”, which, as previously noted, varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, versus “community property”, which may or may not apply in your jurisdiction. If this sounds like “consult competant local counsel”, there is a reason.
Practically: If the item is offered for common purchase, have a friend buy it for you. Doesn’t sound like your wife is going to pay much attention to it (unless she happens to learn that you have it, whereupon she may get nasty, especially in a community-property state).
It must be destroyed - it’s the only way. Elrond himself has said that it will eventually overpower anyone who tries to wield it, so it cannot be used without grave consequence, even by one so powerful as Gandalf.
Is this post a confirmation of a previous post on the value of diamonds in which it was stated that the diamond is covered in the blood and sweat of the workers and only brings saddness to those that covet said diamonds?
I think it does!
What would totally suck is if you did get the ring out, and she found out about it and then her lawyer demanded it! You’d be out the ring, the money to get the ring out, and everything.
Can you work out a deal with the store to get it back for less than 13,000?
Man, I’m going to have to start me up one them stores!
Good Luck!
-Sandwriter
p.s. Did she have red hair by any chance?
p.p.s. JUST KIDDING!
Thank you all for your responses. Especially Joe_Cool. I wasn’t really looking for the right response, just a little justification for getting it back. She has said that I should have it and I intend to get it out, I guess I felt guilty and revengeful for feeling that way. I don’t think I could ever put it on anyone else’s finger myself, but perhaps I could pass it down myself which would bring a little victory from a failed marriage.
Ok… I was actually talking about this last week with my mother in regards to why my cousin was not waiting until christmass or something like that to get engaged…
she said…
“If you give the ring to the person as a gift on a holliday than it is thiers, but if you give it to them as an engagement ring only… then it is yours if it does not work out.”
I think happyheathen has a good solution, and I’d like to refine it a little.
Given that the ring has been in a jewelry store for two years, and that the store is in the business of selling such items if the loans aren’t repaid, have a trusted friend buy the ring from the store. Then have the friend hold on to the ring until the divorce is resolved, settled, finis – the ring must be removed from the divorce proceedings entirely. Then wait a few months, and buy the ring from the friend at a fair market price.
The advantage to this refinement is that the ring is the friend’s property while the divorce is settled, so there is no risk of a forced sale or of the store selling it to an outside party. The risk is that the ring is the friend’s property, and the friend might not honor any formal or informal repurchase agreement. There is also the risk that the lawyers might treat this plan as a scheme to improperly keep the ring out of the settlement, and might drag it back in. You’ll have to evaluate the probabilities of these risks yourself.