Personal Asset or Family Asset-What the Law Say?
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One of our clients called recently, he said he was going to get married with his Chinese fiancée. He wanted to know what’s the China Marriage Law’s provision about family asset and asked if there is anything like prenuptial agreement in China.
Generally speaking, a married person’s asset could be divided into family asset and personal asset. According to the China Marriage law, if not otherwise agreed by the couple:
1. Following asset incurred during the marriage shall be family asset jointly owned by the couple, including:
a. wages and bonuses;
b. any income incurred from production or management;
c. any income incurred from intellectual property;
d. any property inherited or bestowed, with the exception of those as mentioned in #2 below;
e. others.
So if there is no agreement between the couple specify otherwise, most of the income during the marriage should be jointly owned by the couple, even if only the husband or wife make money while the spouse make nothing at all. Both husband and wife shall have equal rights in the disposal of the jointly owned asset.
Furtherly, if the couple get divorced, the family asset will be divided between the couple fifty-fifty. But it could be a relief to most of the husbands, because there is no rule about alimony for ex-wife in China. Though the marriage law does say if one party has financial difficulty, the other party shall provide some assistance from his/her personal asset.
2. Personal asset:
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3. Written prenuptial agreement will be binding to the couple:
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