Keywords: division of a shareholder's property in divorce, company account funds, determination of community marital property, Shenzhen family law lawyer

This is the point a shareholder's spouse most easily misunderstands: upon seeing millions in the company's account, the spouse assumes half of it is theirs. In reality, a company is an independent legal person, and the money in the company's account belongs to the company, not to the shareholder personally. What the shareholder can claim is the value of their own equity, plus the profits the company should distribute to the shareholder. To treat company assets directly as community marital property and divide them is almost certain to fail in court.

Article 1062 of the Civil Code provides that community marital property includes wages, bonuses, remuneration for services, and income from production, business operations, and investment. Here, "income" means the portion that has already been converted into the shareholder's personal wealth—for example, dividends actually received, proceeds from transferring equity, and the salary the shareholder draws from the company. Profits not yet distributed by the company remain company property; however, the shareholder's right to claim profit distribution from the company is a property-type right of the shareholder and may be taken into account as community property.

The key is to distinguish three layers. The first layer is company property: factory buildings, equipment, account funds, and accounts receivable—these belong to the company and cannot be divided directly. The second layer is shareholder rights and interests: the value of the equity itself (calculated on a net asset or appraised-value basis), profits resolved but not yet distributed, and shareholder loans. The third layer is commingling of personal and company property: if a shareholder has long been transferring company funds into personal accounts to cover household expenses, or if the flow of funds between company and family accounts is unclear, that portion may be characterized as the shareholder's personal income or even a withdrawal of capital contributions—both a target of division and a potential trigger for claims by company creditors. In a shareholder divorce case handled by our firm, the opposing party argued that the funds in the company's account had nothing to do with the family; through bank statements, we found that over three years he had transferred nearly ten million yuan into a personal account under the label of petty cash and used it to buy property, and the court ultimately characterized that portion as distributable income and brought it within the scope of division.

Recommended evidence to secure: the company's business registration file and equity structure, financial statements and audit reports for the past three years, shareholders' resolutions on profit distribution, bank statements of fund flows between company and personal accounts, and records of shareholder salary payments. In summary, the money in the company's account cannot be divided directly, but the value of the equity and distributed income can be divided, and commingled funds can still be pursued. We recommend that, before filing suit, you first conduct a comparative review of the company's finances against personal bank statements, and only then settle on your division claims.