The new interpretation of the Chinese marriage law
The new interpretation of the Chinese marriage law, carried out by the Supreme People’s Court, on August 12, 2011, has been regarded as a very controversial law. Many Chinese women cry out that it weakens their rights and protects men’s assets only.
According to the new interpretation, if the down payment of a couple’s house is paid by only one party of the parents, the other party has no right to claim it in the case of a divorce.
The law soon infuriated many women in China where the purchase of a house for the family has traditionally been considered the man’s sole responsibility. Previously, the couple would have divided the asset if they filed a divorce, but now, the woman can hardly get any share of the house aside from compensations for the debt payment.
A popular Weibo (Microblog) page elaborates the issue in this way: When a 40-year-old woman divorced her husband who owned a 1-million-yuan (US$156,299) house, she would only be left with 140,000 yuan. However, she would no longer be attractive, while her ex-husband was still in his best years and took the valuable asset in his control.
However, Du Wanhua, one of the Supreme People’s Court judges passing down the new interpretation, said the law was designed to protect the parents’ interests. “In fact, the parents usually take out all their savings to buy a house for their kid to get married. It would infringe on the elder people’s interests if their payments become shared assets.”
And for those wealthy women who do not need to seek a man for a house, the new marriage law does not affect their lives. “I have my own house and am economically independent, so the marriage law affects nothing in my life,” said Muzi Mei, a well-known female journalist and blogger from Guangzhou.
But for the average families, the law still sounds questionable and many legal experts describe it as without empathy.
Yang Dawen, the honorary director of Marriage Law Research Institute of China Law Society, said the law pays too much attention to the division of the fortune but neglects the subtle relationships between family members.
“After the law, young couple would have their own planning on their belongings before marriage, they would make it clear what assets would remain personal and what fortune they would share,” Xia Yinlan, professor from China University of Political Science and Law, said. “It is no good for either the investments will make as a couple or the life that they are about to share.”
