(WSVN) - He wanted to marry her. He gave her a $6,000 engagement ring, and then a few years later she said, “I am not marrying you.” Now he has a request: “Give me back the engagement ring.” But does she have to return it? It’s why he called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
Working one job is tough. Two full-time jobs? Wow. Now imagine doing that your entire adult life.
David Rawls (wants his engagement ring back): “I was at Mizell for 48 years and Sea Ranch for 44.”
Forty-plus years of long days and never-ending weeks, leaving time for nothing.
David Rawls: “When I did go home, I went to bed. Take a shower and go to bed. That’s all I could do.”
Well, for 14 years, David did have time for one woman.
David Rawls: “All the girls I dated, I never felt that way about a woman. Never, never.”
Two years ago, David decided he wanted to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring.
David Rawls: “She went with me to pick it out.”
Patrick Fraser: “How much was it?”
David Rawls: “It was $6,000.”
Patrick Fraser: “Nice ring.”
David Rawls: “Very nice ring. It’s silver, has a big diamond in the front, and then a lot of little diamonds on each side.”
A diamond ring given to a woman that, David says, he would do anything for.
David Rawls: “I used to give her money to pay her rent. She was always short on something. She was sick. I paid off her truck. Last Valentine’s Day, she said somebody broke into her house and stole her earrings. I went and bought her a $4,000 pair of earrings.”
And then David decided they should become husband and wife.
David Rawls: “I called her a couple of months ago and said, ‘You about ready to get married?’ And she said, ‘No, I changed my mind.” I said, ‘What?’ ‘Changed my mind.’ She hung up. I said, ‘OK, OK.'”
David was stunned.
Patrick Fraser: “You love her?
David Rawls: “I did. Well, I still do, but she don’t want to get married.”
David can live with that. What he can’t understand is why she dumped him.
David Rawls: “I have been nothing but good to that woman. There is nothing she wanted that she didn’t get. I know girls that know her that say, ‘She is so lucky to have you.’ But she don’t have me no more. That’s for sure.”
She doesn’t want David back, but she has something David wants: his $6,000 engagement ring.
David Rawls: “I tried to call her again, she didn’t answer. I texted her. She didn’t respond to the texts. I told her, ‘I want the ring back’ in the texts, and she did not respond.”
David was out of luck. And then…
David Rawls: “Instead of me going to your house, I think I am going to call Help Me Howard. And that’s when I called you.”
Well, Howard, David gave her this ring thinking she would marry him. She has blown him off. Can he also kiss his ring goodbye?
Howard Finkelstein: “No. Dave does not have to kiss it goodbye. An engagement ring is what the law calls a “conditional gift,” meaning the ring is given with the understanding that a wedding will take place. If the person getting the ring calls the wedding off, they have to return the ring. But if the giver calls it off, they don’t get the ring back, and since Dave didn’t call the wedding off, she has to return his ring.”
I spoke to David’s girlfriend. She said they were friends for 40 years but this was not an engagement ring. It was a promise ring. When I asked the difference she said, “A promise ring means you won’t date other people.”
She says she considered David a friend who was very generous to her. Telling me he paid for her three divorces, and when a son died, David paid the $8,000 funeral bill.
When I asked if she would give the ring back, she said “sure.” And she did.
David Rawls: “She wasn’t happy, but she didn’t put up a fight. I want to thank you, Patrick Fraser and Howard Finkelsein. Thank you very much.”
David is moving on with his life, but he wants to say one thing to the woman he once wanted to marry.
David Rawls: “I know you will probably never want to speak to me again, but if I can ever help you in any kind of way, you know how to find me.”
David is just a nice guy who has an engagement ring in his pocket.
And here is one for you. Let’s say a couple gets married and then divorced. Who gets the engagement ring? She does, because she fulfilled the promise and got married. So she keeps that ring.
Engaged in a battle you aren’t winning? Want to divorce yourself from it? Hitch up with us. We aren’t a diamond in the rough, but we can polish things up for you and ring in a solution for you.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN
On Twitter: @helpmehoward7
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