Do I have a right to recapture a family heirloom (engagement ring) after divorce?

Hi I know of no "recapturing" of family heirloom law in Massachusetts. An engagement ring is part of the personal property divided at the time of divorce. Whoever got the ring as a result of the divorce is the owner. If your uncle's first wife got the ring as a result of the divorce it was hers and would become the property of her heirs. Steve Coren

There is no right to "recapture" the ring, at least under the circumstances here. Presumably, your grandmother gave your uncle the ring and it was thus his property to give to his wife upon their engagement. An engagement ring is a gift contingent on the promise of marriage. Once the marriage takes place, the gift is final. In this case, since they are now divorced, they were obviously married making the gift of the engagement ring final. If upon divorce, the ring was not required to be returned to your uncle as part of the property settlement, it is the ex-wife's property. If the ring is that important to you, I might suggest that you offer to buy the ring from your uncle's ex-wife. She may be willing to sell it to you for fair market value, since it may not have any sentimental value now that she is divorced from your uncle.

I agree with Attorney Coren. I would add that, if this was an engagement ring, in most divorce circumstances the recipient of it would get to keep it and it would not be considered part of the marital assets. However, there could be other circumstances in a divorce that would weigh in favor of the person in your uncle's shoes getting it back (mostly having to do with the recipient's responsibility for the break-up, I believe). But, as stated, I believe that once it's allocated in the divorce it's gone, I'm afraid. You might try to nicely ask for it - or ask to purchase it if sentimental value is great.