What rights do separated fiancés have?

What rights do separated fiancés have?

 "I recently got engaged to my partner and we made a number of commitments in preparation for our wedding. Among other things, I paid a deposit to reserve the hall where we planned to celebrate our union. I also bought him an expensive watch. But now he's decided to leave me. Do I at least have the right to ask him for compensation for everything he's made me spend? " 

C., Vaud

Even if the act of becoming engaged is not comparable to that of marriage, the fact remains that it constitutes a genuine contract between two people. The engaged couple express their mutual desire to marry at a later date and to establish certain quasi-family ties until then.

However, this contract is special because of the strong emotional ties between the people involved. They will take steps, often financial ones, to organise the wedding and will give each other gifts, in the good-faith belief that their union will endure. Swiss law, aware of this particularity, does indeed provide for legal consequences in the event of a break-up. In this respect, a distinction must be made between the measures taken by the engaged couple with a view to marriage and the gifts they exchange during the time they are planning to marry.

In the first case, article 92 of the Civil Code (CC) provides that where one of the engaged parties has made arrangements in good faith with a view to the marriage that give rise to costs, he or she may require the other to make an appropriate financial contribution in the event of separation. Examples include the termination of an employment contract due to the marriage or the cost of a holiday. However, the compensation must be fair, particularly in the light of the financial situation of the parties. It should be noted that compensation is not payable for expenses incurred for day-to-day needs.

In the second case, if the fiancés have exchanged gifts, Article 91 CC provides that there is a right to restitution, except in the case of customary gifts of minimal value to the donor. The goods to be returned are therefore those that cost a certain sum and go beyond the simple gifts exchanged, for example on the occasion of birthdays.

You are therefore entitled to ask your ex-fiancé for a contribution towards the booking costs incurred for the party that will not be taking place and to ask him to return the jewellery you gave him, provided you do so immediately, as the law provides for a limitation period of only one year for taking any legal action.