In family litigation, you have as many as three major issues: children, support, and property.
There are a lot of ways for immature people to turn children into a money issue, but they are still, in the words of a famous credit card campaign, “priceless”.
Child support and spousal support are about money—and as they say, anyone who thinks money is just money doesn’t have any. Or has more than they need. I’m not sure which one it is, actually.
As for property, this one is easy. (Unless it’s pets. Yes, pets.) It costs a lot to fight over it. This is where people should be able to make rational decisions, keep the value of property in mind and take good advice on a cost-benefit basis. Would that were true!
“Sentimental value” doesn’t just drive the desire to keep a piece of property instead of taking cash in lieu. Sentimental valuation can lead people to grossly overvalue a piece of property in the possession of the other party. Jewelry is a good example of this.
In BC family law, jewelry is “family property”, unless it was acquired before the start of the marriage-like relationship, or gifted or bequeathed to a spouse by a third party.
That means that gifts of jewelry from one spouse to the other go into the pot of assets to be divided! Arguably, an engagement ring given to a spouse before the marriage is not family property. However, if the spouses cohabited before the engagement ring was given, the ring may indeed be family property. It may have been purchased from pooled resources.
On the other hand, cultural traditions that involve family and friends showering a bride with gold and jewels will still fulfill their intended purpose of providing for her.
Separating parties who get into arguments over jewelry bought during the relationship may be in the grip of the sales pitch that led to the purchase in the first place.
Jewelry and especially engagement rings have been sold on the basis of their symbolic meaning, particularly in relation to status and emotional commitment, rather than their intrinsic value. The seller will tell you all about cut, clarity and colour, and how much it means to spend multiples of your monthly income on a piece of personal adornment. The racket has been criticized and satirized, and yet the social pressure behind it is still formidable.
But they won’t tell you that as soon as you leave the jeweler with a diamond, it loses over 50% of its value.
A diamond is a depreciating asset masquerading as an investment. There is a common misconception that jewelry and precious metals are assets that can store value, appreciate, and hedge against inflation.
-Rohin Dhar, Diamonds Are A Sham And It's Time We Stop Getting Engaged With Them
For the purpose of family property division, the resale value or appraised value of jewelry is never going to be equal to the retail purchase price. And for couples whose romance has evaporated or blown up, the emotional value invested in gifts of jewelry is unrecoverable.