Are Mariah and James following the etiquette rules of a broken engagement?

Mariah Carey and James Packer have broken off their engagement. We know that. We also know Mariah has a TV show coming out soon, Mariah’s World. 

What we don’t know is what the songstress is going to do about the engagement ring given to her by Packer an Australian business mogul and billionaire. You know? The $10m rock that Packer put on her finger in January.

On Ellen TV this week Mariah dodged questions about the breakdown of her relationship.

“It’s kind of difficult to talk about at this moment so I’m just going to compliment you on these decorations once again, because they are fabulous and I am here among them,” she told Ellen.

(This lady has swift skills in dodging difficult questions.)

But it begs the question: what does happen to the engagement ring when a couple breaks up?

According to US attorney Stacy Phillips, it's all about the nature of the break up.

"If the recipient cancels the wedding, then the recipient has to give back the ring because the ring was a conditional gift—the condition being the recipient had to marry the donor," Phillips told Us Weekly. "If the donor breaks it off, then the recipient can keep the ring. If they decide together mutually to cancel the wedding then the recipient has to return the ring."

This is all very clinical reasonable. But what happens if the breakup isn't so clear-but. What happens if it's a heaving sobbing mess of "but-you-said", "no-you-said" round-and-round-in-circles awfulness?

Earlier this month, one couple in Australia took the matter to court.

A Canberra man took his ex-fiancee to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal in an attempt to reclaim the money he'd spend on her engagement ring.

Under the Marriage Act in Australia a person can not sue for damages linked to any social or economic loss that comes from a breach of a promise to marry. But the law doesn't cover gifts given in anticipation of a marriage, i.e. an engagement ring. This means, if the ring recipient is the one doing the breaking-up (like in the US), then it's game-on legally to get that ring back.

Problem is, in the Canberra case, no one could agree on who actually ended the relationship. And Graeme Lunney, who was overlooking the case, described the break-up as a "mutual recognition of an unhappy state of affairs that was beyond repair". He dismissed the hearing and both parties were ordered to bear their own legal costs.

Ouch. 

As for Mariah, the value of that ring is enormous. But this value is likely to have multiplied considering it's been on her finger.

There are also reports that she is suing Packer for $50m. This might be the amount the pair agreed on in the event of a divorce, or it might be considered "inconvenience" costs after Mariah uprooted her family to be with Packer in Australia and cancelling her tour in South America also.

The only other reference Mariah made regarding her break-up while she chatted with Ellen was the following: "Now it's a whole freaking thing... I think I'm doing well, everything happens for a reason and things are the way they are."