Roses, chocolates, and expensive candlelight dinners.
For many love-struck couples, these would have been the order of the day yesterday, Valentines Day. Much would have been spent, whether in terms of time, effort and money.
For some couples, yesterday would have also been the day when the man (or woman) proposed his/her desire to marry his/her lover, complete with a glimmering diamond ring, rehearsed lovey-dovey words plucked from the internet and tears of joy shed!
Soon enough family and friends are informed, plans are made, bookings secured and a whole lot of money is spent on planning for a never-to-forget glamorous wedding.
Now, life is such that not all things go as planned. The challenges and stresses of being a couple can be too much for some. And then the dreaded thing happens – he / she calls it all off. The engagement is off, the wedding is off, the relationship is toast.
Apart from the sting of a painful heartbreak, the affected party (i.e. the one who is informed of the break-up) may also feel wronged financially. He/she then begins to wonder if legal action may be brought against the other party to recoup these losses.
This may come as a surprise to many, but the answer is yes. One may sue and secure damages (compensation) for a breach of promise to marry. In Doris Rodrigues v Bela Krishnan [1982] 2 MLJ 77, the defendant refused to marry the plaintiff after they got engaged and lived together for several years. The defendant instead went on to marry another woman. The High Court allowed the plaintiff’s claim for breach of a promise to marry.
The legal action is rooted in contract law where a promise to marry, and an acceptance of the same by the other creates a binding contract in law. This contract need not be in writing, but there must be evidence to show that such a promise was made in the first place. Given this age of social media where everything is readily announced online to the entire world, obtaining such evidence should not be very difficult.
But crucially, the party who suffers from the breach, must show that he/she gave consideration for the promise to marry. For example, he/she spent money planning for the wedding, or put a down payment for the matrimonial home or generally took other steps in reliance on that promise to marry. In R.S. Thanalachimi v Sundararaju A/L Mattaya [2010] MLJU 1339, the High Court took into account that the plaintiff had rejected other marriage proposals in favour of the defendant, gave up her home and career overseas to be with the defendant and agreed to engage in sexual intimacy with the defendant following the engagement ceremony.
Where it is properly proven in court that the promise to marry was made and breached, the party who suffered the breach is entitled to damages. In the English Court of Appeal case of Quirk v. Thomas (1916) 1 KB 516, it was held that damages may even be awarded for “injury to the wounded feelings and pride”. This is over and above losses suffered flowing from expenditures incurred in reliance of that promise to marry. In R.S. Thanalachimi (supra), the High Court awarded the plaintiff RM171,936.30 in damages.
So, while it entirely good to hope for a happy-ever-after life together with your lover following an engagement, it may be prudent (even if a little cringy) to take the necessary steps to record and retain evidence of that promise to marry, whether by way of photos, or text messages exchanged, or even a list of witnesses, so that if things go south (god forbid of course!), you are armed with sufficient evidence to show that it is his/her loss for walking out on you.
About the Author
Xavier is a Founding Partner of XK Law. He graduated with Honours from the University of London, United Kingdom. Xavier is passionate about combating injustice and loves doing so though his legal work.
