Dao Hua Successful Cases | Dividing a Hundred Million Yuan Estate in Divorce, Lawyer's Involvement Greatly Increases Party's Property Ratio

Case Summary:

LiuMs. met and fell in love with Mr. Wang through an introduction. A few months later, they quickly registered for marriage. Mr. Wang often works and travels outside the local area, while LiuMs. works and lives locally. However, the distance did not hinder their feelings, and they soon had a son, Xiao Wang Mu. In 2022, as Xiao Wang Mu approached the age of enrollment, LiuMs. and Mr. Wang had major disagreements on the issue of educating their child, leading to frequent arguments and growing resentment. Exhausted both physically and mentally, they began to live apart. After long negotiations, they reached an agreement on divorce, custody, and property division: they have 6 million yuan in bank deposits and a property in Shenzhen, with the down payment paid by the husband and the loan repaid together after marriage. Custody of the child was awarded to Mr. Wang, who received 80% of the property and bank deposits, while the wife received 20%. They signed the divorce agreement, and LiuMs. agreed to comply with the terms. After the divorce, LiuMs. believed that the property division plan seriously damaged her legitimate rights and interests. To recover the loss in a timely manner, LiuMs. wisely chose the Dao Hua Marriage and Family Law Firm, hoping to re-divide the property and allocate custody of the child.

Investigation process:

After accepting theentrustment, the Daohua Family Law Firm quickly got to work, carefully sorting through the case materials and collecting and retrieving the economic conditions of the two during their time together. After analyzing the divorce agreement and the property situation after the divorce, the Daohua Family Law Firm quickly discovered many loopholes in the divorce agreement. According to the divorce agreement, Ms. Liu could only receive 20% of the two houses, although the down payment for the house was paid by the man, it was Ms. Liu who repaid the loan after marriage, and the amount of the loan repayment was large after many years of marriage. Since the down payment and monthly loan repayment records were in the man's hands, the uncertainty of dividing the property after the divorce was very high. Through the organization of trivial evidence such as WeChat chat records and recorded evidence, the Daohua Family Law Firm successfully proved that Ms. Liu contributed 3 million yuan to the property, and also proved that there were no other properties in the woman's name, aiming to persuade the court to award the property to the woman. This major breakthrough dealt a heavy blow to the man, who, under great psychological pressure, actively proposed a mediation request. After the Daohua Family Law Firm argued reasonably, the man finally made a major concession under the mediation and negotiation from both legal and emotional perspectives. After several months of careful work by the Daohua Family Law Firm team, Ms. Liu finally settled the property, children, and emotional entanglements of this marriage.

Case outcome: Both parties reached an agreement and signed a mediation agreement. Custody of the child is awarded to the male party, who receives 40% of the house and savings. The female party receives 60% of the house and savings, and no additional child support needs to be paid to the male party.

Dao Hua Analysis:

In this case, through the efforts of the Daohua Family Law Firm, the property division ratio for Ms. Liu was ultimately increased from 20% to 60%. An important legal issue in this case is worth attention, namely, the ownership of commercial housing purchased by one party before marriage through mortgage and jointly repaid by the couple after marriage, as well as how to divide it. Firstly, the identification of the ownership of the house with the property right certificate obtained before marriage and the protection of the property of the non-ownership party is stipulated in Article 209 of the "Civil Code": The establishment, alteration, transfer, and extinction of immovable property rights shall take effect upon registration in accordance with law; without registration, they do not take effect, except as otherwise provided by law. According to the provisions of the "Civil Code", registration is a statutory condition for the acquisition of immovable property rights, and without registration, there is no statutory effect for the establishment or alteration of property rights. The house ownership certificate or the immovable property registration certificate is a mark of house registration, and its acquisition marks the acquisition of house ownership. Article 78 of the "Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Article of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: If one party to the marriage signs an immovable property purchase and sale contract before marriage, pays the down payment with personal property, and takes out a loan from the bank, and uses the joint property of the couple to repay the loan after marriage, and the immovable property is registered in the name of the party who paid the down payment, the immovable property shall be dealt with by agreement between the two parties upon divorce. If an agreement cannot be reached in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the People's Court may decide that the immovable property shall belong to the registered party, and the unpaid loan shall be the personal debt of the registered party. The amount of the joint repayment of the loan by the couple after marriage and the corresponding increase in the value of the property shall be compensated by the registered party to the other party upon divorce in accordance with the principles stipulated in Paragraph 1 of Article 1087 of the "Civil Code".

In this case, the male party purchased a property through a mortgage before marriage and registered the property as immovable property before marriage. According to the provisions of the "Civil Code", the property should belong to the buyer, Mr. Wang, as his personal property before marriage. However, the portion of the loan repaid by both Liu and Mr. Wang after marriage should be considered as their joint marital property. In the case where Mr. Wang obtained the ownership certificate before marriage, Liu does not have the ownership of the property, but has the right to the payments made for the joint loan repayment after marriage and the corresponding increase in property value. In the case of property appreciation, the benefits that Liu should receive can be obtained according to the proportion of her investment in the total property value. By determining each party's property income based on their actual investment amounts, this approach balances fairness while resolving the legal issues related to the acquisition of immovable property rights through registration.