Invalid Gift Contract Dispute: Husband Gifts Third Party 10 Million Yuan During Marriage, Lawyer Tang Yunhong from Guangdong Dao Hua Law Firm Assists Spouse in Recovering 1.17 Million Yuan and

Introduction:During the marriage, the joint property of the couple is an important foundation for maintaining family stability. However, Ms. Zhang encountered her husband's extramarital affair for more than a decade, and during this time, her husband secretly transferred hundreds of thousands of yuan of their joint property to a third party and purchased property for her, seriously infringing on Ms. Zhang's legitimate rights and interests. After several unsuccessful communications, Ms. Zhang resolutely entrusted the case to Tang Yunhong lawyer, seeking legal assistance. After accepting theentrustment, Tang Yunhong lawyer promptly immersed herself in the work, comprehensively collecting evidence to restore the facts of the case, and promptly took property preservation measures to freeze the property under the name of the third party. Finally, with professional legal expertise and rigorous litigation strategies, she successfully persuaded the court to support Ms. Zhang's claims, ordering the third party to return 1.17 million yuan and interest, and helped Ms. Zhang recover significant property losses.

One, judgment of the court

Case Overview

Madam Zhang and her husband were registered as husband and wife in 1992, and their marriage has lasted for over 30 years. However, on the Spring Festival of 2025, Madam Zhang unexpectedly discovered that her husband had an improper relationship with a third party for more than a decade. More annoyingly, over these ten years, her husband, without her consent, arbitrarily transferred the joint property of the couple through bank transfers, payment of housing purchase funds, and other ways to the third party, with a cumulative amount of over a million yuan, including the funds for purchasing a property for the third party. This act not only seriously violated the duty of fidelity between husband and wife but also directly infringed upon Madam Zhang's equal right to handle the joint property, resulting in significant losses to her legitimate property rights. After several fruitless negotiations with her husband and the third party, Madam Zhang decided to seek legal remedies to protect her legitimate rights and interests, and accordingly entrusted Tang Yunhong lawyer to sue the third party, demanding the return of all the gifted property.

Case Difficulties

How to prove an extramarital affair between the husband and a third party?

2. Does the property gifted belong to the joint property of the couple?

3. How to determine the nature of the gift-giving act (gift, other economic transactions), and how much can be returned?

Four, Dao Hua's Viewpoint

1. There is an improper relationship between the husband and the third party.

The husband establishes an improper relationship with a third party during the marriage, which not only destroys the ethical order of the marriage and family but also violates the good custom of "mutual fidelity between husband and wife," harms family stability and public order, and is an act explicitly denied by public order and good customs.

In this case, there is a letter of commitment confirmed by the husband, explicitly admitting an improper relationship, which has the strongest evidence; secondly, there is legally recorded confession of infidelity audio; thirdly, there are complete records of transfers with special amounts such as "520" and "1314" preserved, which prove the improper relationship between the two parties.

2. All the property gifted should be identified as the joint property of the couple.

According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the property obtained by the couple during the continuance of the marriage relationship, such as wages, bonuses, remuneration for labor, income from production, operation, and investment, shall be the joint property of the couple and jointly owned by them. In this case, the funds gifted by the husband to the third party during the continuance of the marriage relationship and the funds used to purchase real estate all come from the joint property of the husband and Miss Zhang, and Miss Zhang has an equal right to dispose of such property.

3. A gift contract based on an improper relationship is invalid, and the defendant shall return the gifted property.

Pursuant to Article 7, Paragraph 1 of the Interpretation (II) of the Marriage and Family Article of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China promulgated by the Supreme People's Court, if one spouse, for the purposes of bigamy, cohabitation with another person, or other violations of the duty of fidelity between spouses, gifts joint property to another person, and the other spouse claims that such civil legal act violates public order and good customs and is invalid, the People's Court shall support this claim. In this case, the husband had a long-term improper relationship with a third party and gifted joint property based on this relationship, without obtaining the consent of Ms. Zhang and also violating public order and good customs, making the gift invalid from the very beginning.

Chapter 5: Case Outcome

In the end, the court supported all of Ms. Zhang's claims, declaring the gift contract between the defendant and the third party invalid, and ordering the defendant to return the gifted amount of 1.17 million yuan and the interest. Currently, the involved property has been frozen, providing a guarantee for the smooth execution of the judgment, and Ms. Zhang's legitimate property rights have been effectively protected.

Chapter Six: Insights on Tang Law

This case is a typical dispute over the unilateral disposal of joint marital property by one party to gift it to a third party. Both spouses have an equal right to dispose of joint property, and no party may unilaterally dispose of joint marital property without the need for family joint life. In this case, the husband, in order to maintain an improper relationship with the third party, made long-term and large-scale gifts of joint marital property, which not only violated the duty of fidelity between spouses but also seriously infringed upon the property rights of the spouse. At the same time, it went against public order, good customs, and moral standards, and the law clearly holds a negative attitude towards this.

In handling such cases, evidence collection is crucial. Lawyers need to comprehensively sort out the flow of the involved property, collect relevant evidence such as bank transfer records, house purchase contracts, and payment vouchers, to prove the nature of the property and the existence of the gift. At the same time, timely measures for property preservation can effectively prevent the transfer of the involved property and ensure the smooth execution of the favorable judgment.

Here, Lawyer Tang Yunhong reminds all married couples that during the existence of the marriage relationship, they should be faithful and respectful to each other, and jointly maintain the harmony and stability of the family. If they find that their spouse haswithout authorization disposed of the joint property of the couple, they should promptly preserve relevant evidence and seek the help of a professional lawyer to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests through legal channels. For the third party, do not hold anyby chance thoughts; property obtained in violation of public order and good customs will ultimately not be protected by the law.

Chapter 7: Index of Relevant Laws and Regulations

The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China

Article 153: Civil legal acts that violate mandatory provisions of laws or administrative regulations are invalid. However, exceptions are made for mandatory provisions that do not render the civil legal act invalid.

Civil legal acts that violate public order and good customs are invalid.

Article 155: Invalid or revoked civil legal acts have no legal binding force from the beginning.

Article 157: Civil legal acts are invalid. The property acquired by the actor through such acts shall be returned; if it cannot be returned or there is no need to return it, compensation shall be made at a fair price. The party at fault shall compensate the other party for the losses suffered; if both parties are at fault, each shall bear the corresponding responsibility.

Article 1062: The following property acquired by husband and wife during the continuance of their marital relationship shall be the joint property of the husband and wife, jointly owned by them:

(1) Salary, bonuses, remuneration for labor;

(2) Income from production, operation, and investment.

(3) Income from intellectual property rights;

(4) Property inherited or gifted, except as provided for in the third item of Article 1063 of this Law.

(5) Other properties that should be jointly owned. The couple has equal rights to handle the joint property.

The Supreme People's Court's Interpretation (II) on the Application of the Marriage and Family Article of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China

Article 7: If one spouse, for the purpose of bigamy, cohabitation with another person, or other violations of the obligation of fidelity between spouses, gifts the joint property of the couple to another person or disposes of the joint property at an obviously unreasonable price, and the other spouse claims that such civil legal act violates public order and good customs and is invalid, the People's Court shall support this claim and handle the matter in accordance with Article 157 of the Civil Code.

If one party of a married couple has a situation as stipulated in the preceding paragraph, and the other party claims that the former has transferred or sold the couple's joint property, seriously damaging the joint property interests, they may request, according to Article 1066 of the Civil Code, to divide the couple's joint property during the marriage relationship, or, according to Article 1092 of the Civil Code, request that the former party receive a smaller or no share of the joint property upon divorce. The People's Court shall support such requests.