China has created an almost perfect law on the division of property during divorce (6 photos)

We almost missed some very interesting news here, fortunately foreign bloggers started churning out articles with headlines like "China Introduces Harsh Measures", "All Women Driven into Slavery" and stuff like that, so we had to dig into this topic a little.





So, in early February 2025, the "Interpretation (II) to Part of the Marriage and Family Civil Code", developed by the Supreme Court of China, came into force in China. It specifies the application of the provisions of the section on property and alimony in the event of divorce.

Previously, there was a general rule in China: everything that was acquired during the marriage was divided equally between the spouses, regardless of whose name the property was registered in. The classic scheme is 50 to 50, and it does not matter whose blood money the property was acquired with.



However, from February 1, 2025, amendments came into force that revise this practice. Now, property donated to one of the spouses by relatives or acquired during the marriage is considered personal property and is not subject to division. In addition, if real estate was purchased during the marriage and only one owner is indicated in the documents, then he remains its full owner. Even if the other spouse believes that he or she has the right to do so, he or she must prove it with documents. And this works both ways, no matter whether it is the husband or the wife who is claiming half of the apartment.





For example, if they are dividing a family store worth 20 million yuan, and it is registered to the husband, it is not enough for the ex-wife to simply say "I also participated." She will have to clearly show where she got half of this money. Here, directly with documents, statements and, preferably, the corresponding income. Did your parents give it to you? Without confirmation, this does not count. Were you unemployed at the time? Sorry, the court will say: "Goodbye." The phrase "we did everything together" no longer works, the necessary papers.

The full text of the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Code of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (II)" can be read here.



Alimony is no longer automatic either. If the ex-spouse is sick or disabled or the child is disabled, then it is possible. Moreover, now you will also have to report where the money was spent. This approach seriously complicates the scheme that is familiar to many: it will no longer be possible to receive regular payments and spend them at your own discretion.

According to the new rules in China, spouses can sign a declaration of joint ownership in advance, which clearly states the share and rights to the property. That is, you can agree in advance who has the right to what, so as not to fight for every stool later.



These changes in Chinese family law became part of a large-scale reform that began several years ago. The goal is simple: to conclude the institution of marriage, reduce the number of fictitious unions and combat so-called "golden marriages", when one of the spouses enters into a union solely for the sake of dividing material goods.

Over the past three years, Chinese courts have handled about 2 million marriage and family cases annually, accounting for about 12% of all civil cases heard at first instance. Among them, about 1.5 million cases are about division of property, which is almost 80% of all family cases. Lawmakers have decided that it is time to close up shop and have launched a process of revising the basic approaches to property disputes.



Actress Zhang Zi and musician Wang Feng

The country has many high-profile divorces where billions are at stake. One of the most discussed is the divorce of actress Zhang Zi and musician Wang Feng: they divided property worth about 3.5 billion yuan (~480 million $).

Or here's another one - the founder of the 360 company Zhou Hongyi transferred shares worth almost 12 billion $ to his ex-wife. There were also cases in the business environment: for example, the ex-wife of the head of XJ Electric received 12% of the company's shares worth more than 15 billion yuan. She became the third largest shareholder of the company.

Even the restaurant business was not left out; the ex-wife of the creator of the Kung Fu chain demanded 25% of the shares worth almost 5 billion dollars.