The new Chinese divorce law:
Since August 13th, when China\’s Supreme People\’s Court reinterpreted the country\’s marriage law, many of the women leaving marriage registry offices like the one in Chaoyang have more than just the end of their marriages to bemoan. According to the new law, residential property is no longer to be regarded as jointly owned and divided equally in the event of a divorce.
Instead, whoever paid for the apartment or house is the legal owner and gets to keep it in its entirety.
Gosh,that\’s terrible, isn\’t it? Almost like Scottish law, pre-marital possessions are not part of marital possessions.
A major reason why the new law is regarded as unjust by most women is that in China men, or their parents, traditionally buy the family home. Indeed, many women will refuse to marry until that happens.
That makes it even worse, doesn\’t it?
The women hold out for a home to be bought before marriage and then if they divorce they don\’t get half the home.
What bastards the slant eyes are, eh?
It will just hit those married already. Newly weds will find a way around the problem. Girls will just insist that the house is transferred to their name before the wedding for instance. As in Taiwan.
But I do like the fact that it is the Communist People’s Republic of China that is doing this to protect the property of men. Communism ain’t want it used to be.
It shows the dangers of suddenly changing property rights (I am using the term property rights in a broad sense). And from the article SMFS is right, fiancées already demanding the house be put into both names pre wedding. An example of Coasian bargaining.
Retrospective legislation is a thoroughly bad habit.
With the supply of women being below demand there could be a profitable sideline of getting half a house before the wedding and then calling the whole thing off. Repeat ad lib.