Reprinted: Popularization of law in China
The act of one of the spouses donating joint property to another person without authorization is null and void
——Liu x v. Zhou X unjust enrichment dispute case
Summary of the Trial
The property acquired by the husband and wife during the existence of the marital relationship is the joint property of the husband and wife, which belongs to the husband and wife, and the husband and wife have equal rights to dispose of the common property. The Civil Code gives either spouse the right to know and the right to dispose of important property that is not necessary for daily life. Neither spouse may dispose of the joint property of the spouses without the consent of the other party. If one of the spouses goes beyond his or her daily life and donates the common property to another person without authorization, the donation shall be deemed invalid, and if the other spouse requests return on the grounds of infringing on the common property, the people's court shall support it.
Basic facts of the case
Plaintiff Liu filed a lawsuit with the Donggang District People's Court of Rizhao City, claiming that in December 2019, because the plaintiff's husband Mou had an improper relationship with defendant Zhou, the defendant asked the plaintiff's husband Mou for money, and then the plaintiff found that her husband Mou had transferred 10,000 yuan to defendant Zhou on February 20, 2021, which was used to break their improper relationship. Liu believes that the money received by defendant Zhou X is Liu X's family deposit, the defendant Zhou X has achieved the purpose of collecting the payment by exerting pressure on Liu X's husband, and the money received by defendant Zhou X is unjust enrichment and should be returned to the plaintiff according to law. Appeal: Judgment that defendant Zhou should return 10,000 yuan of unjust enrichment and pay interest losses; litigation costs should be borne by defendant Zhou.
After trial, the Donggang District People's Court of Rizhao City ascertained that the plaintiff Liu and mou mou, an outsider in the case, registered their marriage with the Civil Affairs Bureau on June 6, 2016, and are not divorced. Defendants Zhou and Mou met in December 2019, the two began to communicate, and on February 20, 2021, Mou transferred 10,000 yuan to the defendant through Alipay (Huabei installments). At the same time, it was found that on February 20, 2021, after the plaintiff's husband Mou transferred 10,000 yuan to the defendant Alipay through Alipay (Huabei installment), Mou confirmed to the defendant on WeChat: "Did you receive it?" Break the wealth to avoid disaster, sad death", the defendant replied: "Well, say well, you invest in my deposit for starting a business, and I will draw up a contract at night and give you a share." ”
After the above-mentioned money transfer, defendants Zhou and Mou continued to communicate on WeChat on the reasons for ending the relationship between the two parties.
Among them, on February 21, 2021, Zhou mou said to Mou: "If I tell her, you may go out of the house and hurt a third person... You divorce in a week...".
Mou said on WeChat that "... You're pushing people too hard... A hundred thousand a week, a divorce a week, this is what people do... The rabbit is still biting, are you going to force me to death? ...... You want 100,000 yuan, is this the end of it? (At this time, the defendant replied: old and dead do not interact with each other) I did not borrow so much money, I can still borrow 5,000, I borrowed 5,000 from the unit, and gave you 20,000 yuan... Just 20,000, no more than one point, just say, don't you random, goodbye."
The defendant replied: "After following you for more than a year, this is what I have changed back, after this incident, don't contact you again, I will not be embarrassed for you."
Mou asked the defendant on WeChat: "Sign an agreement to prove that you took this money, I am just investing, so that I am steadfast, you will not toss again."
The defendant did not agree, and after the two parties negotiated that the money given by Mou to Zhou was remarked as a "mental loss fee", which had no other use, and the negotiation determined that Mou gave the defendant 20,000 yuan (including the previous transfer of 10,000 yuan, and then gave the defendant 10,000 yuan), the two broke off contact.
However, mou has since returned all the transfer money to the defendant, and Mou also asked the defendant to return the previous 10,000 yuan, and said that it was a big deal that the fish died and the net was broken, and so on.
It was also found that the main content of the call recording between Mou and the defendant was: the two negotiated on ending the relationship between the two parties, in which Mou repeatedly stressed, I give you 20,000 yuan, we have no relationship, Zhou agreed. In the recording of the call, the two parties recognized that the 20,000 yuan (of which 10,000 yuan had not yet been paid) was a mental loss fee to the defendant, and that Mou's transfer of 10,000 yuan to Zhou was "given (given)" to Zhou.
The result of the referee
The Donggang District People's Court of Rizhao City ruled in the first instance: Defendant Zhou X shall return the plaintiff Liu's money of 10,000 yuan and interest within 5 days from the effective date of this judgment (based on 10,000 yuan, according to the loan market quotation interest rate announced by the National Interbank Lending Center in the same period, calculated from March 1, 2021 to the date of actual payment).
Zhou was not satisfied with the first-instance judgment and appealed to the Rizhao Intermediate People's Court. Second-instance judgment of Rizhao Intermediate People's Court: The appeal is rejected and the original judgment is upheld.
Case interpretation
Paragraph 2 of Article 1062 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "Husband and wife have equal rights to dispose of common property. "The joint property of husband and wife is based on the provisions of the law, arising from the existence of the conjugal relationship, and in the absence of a special agreement between the husband and wife on the property, the husband and wife have joint ownership of the joint property; during the existence of the marital relationship, the joint property of the husband and wife is an indivisible whole, the husband and wife have the common ownership of all the common property regardless of the share, the husband and wife have equal right to dispose of the common property, and the husband and wife form a common common ownership of the common property, rather than a joint share. The two parties shall consult on an equal footing and reach an agreement on the disposition of the couple's common property not for the needs of daily life, and neither party shall have the right to dispose of the joint marital property alone. The donation of common property to another person without compensation by one of the spouses for the purposes of daily life seriously damages the property rights and interests of the other party and violates the principle of fairness in civil law, and such a gift should be invalid.
In this case, Mou transferred 10,000 yuan to the defendant, and the initial negotiation between the two was investment funds, but after the transfer, when the two communicated and negotiated on WeChat to end the relationship between the two parties, the two parties negotiated to use the 10,000 yuan as a mental loss fee, which was of no other use; in the recording of the call between the defendant and Mou (the call recording was later than the transfer), the two parties also unanimously agreed in the phone that the 10,000 yuan was "given" (donated) to the defendant Zhou by Mou, and in the call recording, Mou repeatedly stressed that 20,000 yuan was given to the defendant as a mental loss fee. The defendant also agreed. Therefore, the amount of 10,000 yuan involved in the case was originally an investment fund stated by the parties, but the nature of the money was changed in the subsequent consultation and communication between the two parties and changed to a gift.
Defendants Zhou X and Mou X both knew that Mou X had a spouse, the two still continued to communicate in a lover relationship, and their behavior violated public order and good customs and damaged social morality. The Civil Code gives either spouse the right to know and the right to jointly dispose of important property that is not necessary for daily life, and during the period of his marriage with the plaintiff, Mou unilaterally donated the defendant's property, and the property donated by him is the joint property of the husband and wife, and the unilateral donation of the defendant's property infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of the plaintiff Liu and is an invalid civil act. The plaintiff has the right to demand that the defendant return the property donated by Mou, and the court supports the plaintiff's claim that the defendant Zhou return 10,000 yuan.
For interest, Mou's act of donating the defendant's property is an invalid civil act, but the date on which the plaintiff claims rights is March 1, 2021, so the interest should be based on 10,000 yuan, according to the loan market quotation interest rate announced by the National Interbank Lending Center in the same period, calculated from that date to the date of actual payment.
Relevant laws
Article 1062 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China provides that the following property acquired by husband and wife during the existence of the marital relationship shall be the common property of the husband and wife and shall be jointly owned by the husband and wife:
(1) Wages, bonuses, and remuneration for labor services;
(2) Income from production, operation and investment;
(c) proceeds from intellectual property rights;
(4) Property inherited or donated, except as provided for in Paragraph 3 of Article 1063 of this Law;
(5) Other property that shall be jointly owned.
Husband and wife have equal rights to dispose of common property.
Source: Shandong Gaofa