China's recent amendment of it's Marriage Law stipulates that
“Upon divorce, any pre-marital asset is no longer included as an object of property division
(meaning it belongs to the original owner before the marriage).
Meanwhile, real estate which was funded and bought by one of the parties’ parents belongs to that party and is not to be divided.”
Changes in the law perhaps will push even Chinese people to revise their concept of marriage, which has largely remained unchanged for thousands of years.
In the past, marriage has been seen more as a sharing of resources between two families.
Today, it has become more of a legal contract between the two wedded partners.
For instance, when Wendi Deng Murdoch beat off a man who tried to attack her husband (Rupert Murdoch) at a court hearing about the eavesdropping scandal two years ago, the stock price of News Corp. rebounded 5% that day.
So one can be sure their respective teams of lawyers are meticulously calculating how the division of this part of their properties is to be done.
Of course, it sure won’t be easy to persuade all Chinese people to draw up prenuptial agreements.
This is partly because the idea that a man is to provide his spouse with a home is deeply entrenched, and partly because “face” plays an extremely important role in Chinese culture.
All pre-marital protocols are based on the possibility “what if we ever split…”.
For those who prepare to enter a happy marriage and commit to tie the knot for a lifetime in front of everybody, this is simply hard to accept emotionally or acknowledge publicly.
Eventually, what is even more disturbing for Chinese women is the fact that although Chinese law does have certain clauses that protect women’s rights, the provisions lack specificity.
For example, in the Chinese Marriage Law,
“the party who contributes significantly to the family is to have a greater share of the compensation.”
However, the judgment of compensation lacks any quantitative criteria, and compensation is left to the subjective opinion of the judge.
If the purchase of a house by the man is considered as a contribution doesn’t the wife’s decades of maintenance of the house also count as part of the contribution?
Clearly, China’s Marriage Law has not yet reached gender equality.
Were our law to better protect the party who gives more of themselves — most often the wife in a Chinese-style marriage — I believe people would have much less antipathy about pre-marital property notarization or signing up for a prenuptial agreement.
“Upon divorce, any pre-marital asset is no longer included as an object of property division
(meaning it belongs to the original owner before the marriage).
Meanwhile, real estate which was funded and bought by one of the parties’ parents belongs to that party and is not to be divided.”
Changes in the law perhaps will push even Chinese people to revise their concept of marriage, which has largely remained unchanged for thousands of years.
In the past, marriage has been seen more as a sharing of resources between two families.
Today, it has become more of a legal contract between the two wedded partners.
For instance, when Wendi Deng Murdoch beat off a man who tried to attack her husband (Rupert Murdoch) at a court hearing about the eavesdropping scandal two years ago, the stock price of News Corp. rebounded 5% that day.
So one can be sure their respective teams of lawyers are meticulously calculating how the division of this part of their properties is to be done.
Of course, it sure won’t be easy to persuade all Chinese people to draw up prenuptial agreements.
This is partly because the idea that a man is to provide his spouse with a home is deeply entrenched, and partly because “face” plays an extremely important role in Chinese culture.
All pre-marital protocols are based on the possibility “what if we ever split…”.
For those who prepare to enter a happy marriage and commit to tie the knot for a lifetime in front of everybody, this is simply hard to accept emotionally or acknowledge publicly.
Eventually, what is even more disturbing for Chinese women is the fact that although Chinese law does have certain clauses that protect women’s rights, the provisions lack specificity.
For example, in the Chinese Marriage Law,
“the party who contributes significantly to the family is to have a greater share of the compensation.”
However, the judgment of compensation lacks any quantitative criteria, and compensation is left to the subjective opinion of the judge.
If the purchase of a house by the man is considered as a contribution doesn’t the wife’s decades of maintenance of the house also count as part of the contribution?
Clearly, China’s Marriage Law has not yet reached gender equality.
Were our law to better protect the party who gives more of themselves — most often the wife in a Chinese-style marriage — I believe people would have much less antipathy about pre-marital property notarization or signing up for a prenuptial agreement.
