Interface News Reporter | Zhang Qiannan
Interface News Editor | Liu Haichuan
Recently, "wives can inquire about their spouse's property" rushed to the hot search.
According to the "Regulations on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests in Fujian Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which was recently voted and passed, local women holding valid documents such as ID cards, household registration books and marriage certificates to prove the relationship between husband and wife can apply to real estate administration, vehicle management and other units to inquire about the property status of their spouses in accordance with the law, and the relevant units shall handle it for them. The ordinance will come into force on June 1 this year.
"The public will inevitably wonder at first: would such a rule infringe on the privacy of spouses?" Li Ningwei, deputy director of Shanghai Home & Home Law Firm, said.
Li Ning did not tell Jiemian News that as clearly stipulated in the Civil Code, no organization or individual may infringe on the privacy of others by means of espionage, intrusion, leakage, disclosure, etc. However, there is a specific personal relationship between husband and wife, and property acquired by the husband and wife during their common life, including real estate, is usually the joint property of the husband and wife, which is different from personal privacy or personal information in the general sense.
Gui Fangfang, a partner at Merits & Tree (Shanghai) Law Firm in Beijing, introduced to Jiemian News. The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China makes it clear that husband and wife are equal in status and have equal rights to dispose of joint property. In fact, the superior law of the Regulations is the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, and this provision does not go beyond Article 67 of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women. In fact, the relevant rights of men are also stipulated in the Civil Code, and the law does not prohibit freedom, and the provisions of the local women's insurance regulations in Fujian only emphasize and enhance the protection of women's dignity and women's property rights, and do not violate the principle of equality between men and women, and do not violate the superior law.
It is difficult to verify the joint property of husband and wife
"In practice, it is common to conceal or transfer common property. Gui Fangfang said.
The new Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, which came into effect on January 1, 2023, formally establishes a system for declaring assets in divorce proceedings. Article 67 of the new law stipulates that during divorce proceedings, if one of the husband and wife applies to inquire about the status of property registered in the name of the other party and is indeed unable to collect it on its own due to objective reasons, the people's court shall conduct an investigation and collect evidence, and the relevant departments and units shall provide assistance. During the divorce proceedings, both husband and wife have the obligation to declare all the joint property of the husband and wife to the people's court. Where one party conceals, transfers, sells, destroys, or squanders the joint property of the husband and wife, or falsifies the joint debts of the husband and wife in an attempt to encroach on the property of the other party, the other party may divide the property in a small amount or not at all when the property is divided in divorce.
"Although it is the legal obligation of the parties to declare the marital assets, the amount and type of property to declare are still within the scope of the parties' own decisions. So in fact, there are many ways for the other party to hide and transfer property. Gui Fangfang introduced.
Li Ning did not tell Jiemian News that in practice, there is indeed a phenomenon of concealing and transferring the joint property of husband and wife, especially when one party is unclear about the family property. Since there are many restrictive conditions for inquiring about spouse's assets at the non-litigation stage, it is necessary to implement a property declaration system and an inquiry system.
Li Ningwei introduced that the "Civil Procedure Law" has made remedial provisions to solve the problem that it is difficult for the parties to ascertain the property status of their spouses. But it is true that this can only solve the problem after entering the generalized litigation process. However, the lack of pre-litigation investigation path makes it difficult for the party with relatively weak economic dominance to repeatedly grasp the family property situation in advance and avoid the transfer or concealment of the spouse. Therefore, if the query path can be pre-set, it is more conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the parties.
"At present, in the current situation of judicial practice in the mainland, the query of vehicle information is relatively relaxed, but the control of real estate information is relatively strict. Li Ning did not introduce.
Li Ningwei introduced that if the parties know the specific location of the house, they can bring their ID cards and marriage certificates to the real estate transaction center (natural resources ownership confirmation and registration affairs center) where the house is located to fill in the corresponding form to apply for inquiry, which is commonly known as "checking people by house". If it can be queried, the real estate transaction center will print a copy of the house property registration information (commonly known as "property survey"), which includes the location of the house, the nature of the house, the name of the property owner, the date of acquisition, mortgage information, seizure information, etc.
However, if you do not know the specific location of the house, the party must bring your ID card, marriage certificate, and original household registration book to the real estate transaction center where the house is located to apply for inquiry, and ask the staff to type out all the properties registered by the other party in the name of the individual in the area, which is commonly known as "checking the house by person".
Li Ningwei said that it must be pointed out that the real estate inquiry policies in various places are inconsistent, and most of them are "checking people by house", and "checking houses by people" is basically not allowed. There are also some places where it is strictly forbidden for the parties to inquire about other people's real estate information (including spouses) in any way. Such a procedural setting will cause a certain degree of difficulty for one party to inquire about the joint property of the husband and wife.
In addition to the discussion of "her rights", "mutual inspection of marital property" may be established in the direction of law
"The new Fujian regulations can indeed understand and supervise the joint property of husband and wife in a timely manner, which is helpful to prevent and correct the transfer behavior, and is also in line with the needs of practice. From the perspective of protecting the joint property of husband and wife, it is possible that it will become the direction of future legislation. Combined with the system of declaring the joint property of husband and wife, it is conducive to further protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the weaker party in the marriage. Li Ningwei said.
"In many families, the creator and custodian of property is mostly the man, and the woman does not control the assets, and if the couple divorces, the woman will face great passivity. Gui Fangfang said that in the case of an agreed divorce, the husband may only choose to disclose part of the assets, so the agreed divorce is actually established under unfair circumstances. In the case of divorce, the court requires both parties to declare their assets automatically, but if the husband conceals the assets at the beginning, even if the woman does not know about them, it will lead to unfairness in the division of property. Therefore, this practice is conducive to the prevention and correction of the transfer of marital property.
Gui Fangfang said that the Fujian Provincial Regulations on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests give women the right to investigate their property, which is open and transparent. The relevant content of this regulation serves as a guide, so that the public can inquire about the joint property of the husband and wife, and women will know better how to claim their rights in the family, and men will know better how to respect their spouses. Second, the ordinance can help many women who are unaware of the joint property of the husband and wife to identify their assets and fight for their rights. The regulation also plays a role in improving women's family and social status and women's self-esteem.
In addition, the provision only makes it clear that women can search for property, but does not deny that men can do so. In fact, not only Fujian, but also Guangdong, Jinan and other places also allow one spouse to check part of the property status of the other spouse with valid documents. Therefore, it is likely that in the future there will be a gradual trend towards allowing spouses to check their property status by documents. Gui Fangfang said.
Gui Fangfang pointed out that after the formal implementation of Fujian's local women's insurance regulations, it is necessary to combine the civil and marriage and family fields, as well as the marriage and family section of the Civil Code. Even after the implementation of this regulation, there will still be many problems in the implementation process, and it is difficult to exhaust them all.
"But as a lawyer, I suggest that whether it is a woman or a man, in our marriage, we must first learn to protect our own rights and interests, such as the need to know about the other party's property, grasp certain property clues, the law can only solve part of the problem, provide part of the solution. There are also many solutions in life, to be a careful person and manage the relationship between husband and wife. Gui Fangfang said.