Do ex-partners have to return gifts?
In response to the news that Charlie Sheen had asked his ex-girlfriend to return an expensive car after the couple broke up, Slate's "Explainer" explored whether recipients must respond when people demand the return of gifts. Jane Baron of Temple's Beasley School of Law helped provide the answer: Giving a gift represents a relinquishment of property rights, so a true gift never has to be returned. There are three elements in gift-giving: intent, delivery and acceptance. Without all three, the original owner can demand his property back.
Slate | June 29, 2011