Brief facts of the case:
Both husband and wife are engaged in investment and stock trading. After marriage, all the family's property is kept by the wife, but because of the need to invest in stocks, the two parties directly transfer large amounts of money to each other, and there is a record of the husband giving his wife part of the investment dividends.
The divorce agreement between the parties stipulates that the joint property of the husband and wife and the property before and after the marriage shall belong to the wife, and that all creditor's rights and debts during the marriage shall be enjoyed and repaid by the husband.
During the marriage, the husband has a loan, and after receiving the money, he directly pays it to a third party.
Do you think it's a joint debt?
Case source: (2021) Supreme Law Min Shen No. 2558
Lawyer Yang Qinren's comments:
In this case, the court found that the husband and wife had joint debts, and the following conditions were met:
First, the joint property of the husband and wife is kept by the wife;
second, large-amount mutual transfers;
Third, both husband and wife are engaged in investment, and the husband gives part of the investment dividends to his wife;
Therefore, it was determined that the act was a joint operation of the husband and wife.
Related Case: (2021) Zui Gao Fa Min Shen No. 2559, the court held the exact same view
Upon review, this court is of the opinion that
With regard to the issue of Li JJ's submission of new evidence to this court in the retrial application, it is sufficient to overturn the determination that the debts involved in the case are joint debts of the husband and wife. Article 3 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Debts between Husband and Wife stipulates that if one of the spouses incurs a debt in his or her own name during the existence of the marital relationship that exceeds the daily needs of the family, and the creditor claims rights on the ground that it is a joint debt of the husband and wife, the people's court shall not support it, unless the creditor can prove that the debt was used for the husband and wife's common life, joint production and operation, or based on the joint intention of the husband and wife. Although the divorce agreement between the parties stated that the joint property of the husband and wife and the property before and after the marriage belonged to Li JJ, and that all the creditor's rights and debts during the marriage period were enjoyed and repaid by Zong J, the agreement did not have the effect against the creditor. Li JJ submitted to this court relevant evidence that Zong J transferred the money to an outsider but did not transfer it to Li JJ after the loan relationship involved in the case occurred, but the determination of whether the debt involved in the case was a joint debt of the husband and wife was not determined solely on the basis of the circulation of the money. In the application for retrial, Li JJ admitted that he had obtained income through stock speculation and equity investment, which was similar to the work engaged in by Zong J. In the application for retrial, Zong J admitted that the dividends from his investment in Royal Group Co., Ltd. on May 23, 2017 were partially transferred to Li JJ's account on May 25, 2017, and that the joint property of the husband and wife was kept by Li JJ. Combined with the fact that there were multiple large sums of money transferred to each other during the existence of the marital relationship, it can basically be judged that Zong J and Li JJ had expressed their intention to operate together, and the property of the two parties was not independent during the existence of the marital relationship.
