New Marriage Law Interpretation Causing Stir among Chinese Couples

The 'Third Interpretation' of China's Marriage Law has just been released. And the most hotly contended issue is based on the division of property.

With divorce on the rise in China, now there's more to think about than just love.

The big question is…who will get the house?

Andrea Hunt has more:

In the past, traditional Chinese culture often had the groom's parents provide a house for the newly weds. And the wife's parents took care of things like furniture, car, etc.

But with the new interpretation of China's marriage law…Disgruntled spouses and their parents are brooding over a new twist.

Beijing Attorney Zhang weiwei explains:

"In my perspective, the biggest controversy lies in the seventh item: when parents purchase at their expense for their child after he or she marries and register the property in the name of their child, the property is recognized to be that person's personal property. If the real estate is purchased by parents of both sides, and the name of registration is in the name of one of the spouses, the investment share is in accordance with the investment of both sides."

To put it simply, before, the house was split between the couple and the wife's parents were happy. Now, the interpretation leaves the wife without any stake in the ownership of the real estate if her parents didn't chip in.

This may provide more protection for the groom and his family. But Beijing Attorney Hualei Ding says there are downsides as well.

"The new interpretation of the marriage law is aimed at mediating issues within a marriage. But family life is always complicated and entails all kinds of interests. The new legal interpretation provides a clear cut standard in deciding property division in a marriage, but it is a challenge to China's tradition values and marriage practices. In practice, it's better to have this law to address the problems coming up in Chinese people's married life. The disadvantage is it can't solve all the issues or cover the interests and needs of those from disadvantaged groups."

Attorney Zhang adds that this will affect women in rural areas where the many labor and property laws in the countryside tend to favor men.

"This will create a disadvantage to rural women because the wife will get nothing in divorce because the house still belongs to the husband's individual property. Usually, women are vulnerable economically. They can't buy a house independently against the backdrop of Chinese economy and customs and gender discrimination in the workplace. That's why they really rely on their husbands."

However, Beijing Attorney Si Pengfei points out that this may change the way people approach marriage.

"As far as I am concerned, there will be two trends. Firstly, people's attitude of choosing their spouses will change because the new explanation is specified. So, people who are thinking of marrying a rich heir just to walk away with his or her money will be deterred. Secondly, those who wouldn't divorce can make a decision because they can now divide their property clearly according to the new explanation."

Attorney Hualei Ding adds when it comes to property, China's handling of the marriage law varies from the West.

"Western marriage law is often agreement-based, where couples have pre-nuptial agreement regarding their properties and assets. For example, in the U.S. they encourage couples to make an agreement on what part of assets is yours and what part is mine. So in the case of a divorce, the property division can be done according to their agreement. In China, it's agreement plus legal mandates. In the case of having an agreement, we'll go with the agreement. If not, then we suppose all the income and property belong to both parties. Also, ours belongs to the continental law system, whereas the U.S. and the U.K. uses case-law system. So there is a difference."

Traditional Chinese culture is making these new legal developments more complicated when couples decide to call it quits….

This will no doubt warrant further scrutiny, in the coming years.

For CRI, I'm Andrea Hunt.