Husband Adulterous for 12 Years and Has Illegitimate Child, Gifts Mistress Nearly 4 Million! Court: Violates Public Morality, Wife Has Right to Recover!

Case Basic Information: 

The husband has been cheating for over a decade and has a child with a third party, who is now 10 years old. During this period, the husband has gifted nearly 4 million yuan to the third party. The wife has filed a lawsuit with the court, requesting the invalidation of the gift between the two and the full return of the amount. During the lawsuit, the third party claimed that she was unaware that the other party was married, identifying herself as a victim, and also stated that the transferred money was child support. The court did not accept these claims and ordered the third party to return the full amount. The Chief Lawyer of the Dahuo Family Law Firm, Tang Yunhong, a senior marriage and family lawyer in Shenzhen, explains the legal relationships involved in the case.

How to determine the act of a spouse privately disposing of property without permission during the existence of a marriage relationship?

The court determined that from 2013 to 2020, a total of 1.47 million yuan was transferred to the third party. In 2012, 800,000 yuan in cash was withdrawn and in 2014, 650,000 yuan in cash was withdrawn to purchase two houses for the third party, and in 2013, a car worth 8.7 million yuan was purchased for the third party. The total amount of property disposed of was over 3.79 million yuan. These acts of disposing of property were not agreed upon by the wife and were not subsequently recognized by her.

During the existence of a marriage relationship, both spouses have equal rights to the joint property, jointly owning the property without any division of shares. Neither party has the right to dispose of the joint property of the couple alone. One party's private gift of joint property to a third party infringes on the property rights of the spouse and violates the principles of public order and good customs, making the gift invalid.

Additionally, spouses have the obligation to be faithful to each other. Private gifts of large sums of money to an affair partner seriously undermine the trust and feelings between the couple and violate the obligation of fidelity between the couple. They should be condemned, and third parties who benefit from such actions should not be protected, as they disrupt the public's understanding of social order and good customs and bring negative impacts to a certain extent.

Dahuo Lawyer Analysis:

Gifts between one spouse and another based on an improper relationship should be deemed invalid due to their violation of public order and good customs. When dealing with significant assets in daily life, before making important decisions on the joint property that are not related to daily needs, both spouses should consult and reach a consensus before disposing of the property. When one spouse unilaterally gifts joint property to a third party based on an improper relationship, it actually expresses the intention to maintain an improper relationship for a long time, which is completely contrary to the traditional Chinese concept of marriage and family. It seriously challenges public order and good customs and damages the legitimate rights and interests of the spouse. In such cases, the giver is considered to have improperly reduced the joint property of the couple, and the other party can claim compensation or a redivision of property from the court at the time of divorce or after discovering the situation.