Case of the Ex: Taking back your gifts

So did you hear the rumour that Chris Brown took back the car he bought for Karruche (allegedly because she has refused to take him back)? Reports say the car was bought in his name and so, technically, belongs to him, even though he had given it her as a gift while they were 'in love'.

That gist got me thinking...is it ok to collect gifts back after a relationship ends? I mean, it is a gift right? You have given it and so it is no longer yours...abi no be so?

But then I remember a conversation I had with a girl who used to be an acquaintance. The man she had been dating bought her a car (to some people, she said it was brand new 'tear-rubber', to others she said it was 'tokunbo' and to very few, she said it was 'used car'...I fell into the category that she told it was 'tear-rubber', I guess she felt I cared much for that). When she was giving me this gist, she told me how she made sure she didn't outrightly ask him for a car so it won't look like she asked for it (that way he can't brag about how she made him buy a car); she told me how she made sure she went to the car shop with him and picked the particular car she wanted and made sure the purchase and receipt and documents were all in her name. She said she didn't want a situation where they would break up and he would come back and say the car is his because the papers are in his name. 

At that point, I remember thinking "oh boy...Igbo girl no wan carry last" and we laughed it off.

But now that I think about it (and wonder about the Chris-Karruche situation), I think, maybe she had a wise point. I happened to know the said boyfriend and on different occasions I had heard him speak of how he bought her a car. On one of such occasions, he said how he wishes he had kept that car so his current girlfriend could use it. 

A few years back, I had a colleague who was living in a house that was paid for by the man she was dating. A week after the relationship ended, the landlord came and asked her to leave. When she tried to talk and called police, the landlord brought out lease agreement that didn't have her name on it so the thing became a long story of how she had been a illegal occupant for the months she had been there.

Don't get me wrong. 

I am not saying you should take back gifts from your ex or that you should be in a relationship, constantly plotting how you will protect 'investment' but think about it...if more ex lovers are joining the trend to take back their gifts when the relationship ends, shouldn't we all become wise and protect ourselves from such 'bad-belle' moves?