Case brief

    Geng and Sun were introduced to determine their love relationship. Geng and his mother Zuo bought real estate, vehicles, and four gold for the marriage of the two, and paid Sun a bride price of 66,000 yuan. After Geng and Sun broke up due to emotional discord, the two sides did not reach an agreement on the bride price, real estate, vehicle return amount and return object. Geng and Zuo sued the court for the return of the bride price.

court hearing

    After the trial, the court held that the plaintiff Geng and his mother Zuo purchased vehicles, real estate, and gold jewelry and paid them to the defendant as dowry gifts. Since Geng and Sun did not enter into a marriage relationship, the court ruled that the defendant Sun returned 66,000 yuan and four gold to the plaintiffs Geng and Zuo, and returned the vehicles and real estate and cooperated with the transfer of ownership.

Judge's statement

    The payer and recipient of the bride price are not limited to both men and women, but may also include the parents and relatives of both men and women. The parties to a marriage contract property dispute cannot be limited to only the men and women who are preparing to enter into a marriage relationship. Under certain circumstances, the man who has entered into a marriage contract and his parents can participate in the litigation as co-plaintiffs to safeguard their legal rihts and interests.

    When the bride price is agreed upon by the parents and relatives of the man and the woman, and the man's parents raise funds and deliver it to the woman and her parents, the bride price can be regarded as the common property of the man's family. In a marriage contract property dispute, if the man's parents sue as plaintiffs, as long as the man in the marriage contract himself has no objection to his parents participating in the lawsuit as plaintiffs, it is equivalent to agreeing that the bride price in the marriage contract property dispute is the common property of him and his parents. The people's court shall not reject the man's parents' lawsuit on the grounds that the man's parents are not parties to the marriage contract and the plaintiff is unqualified. In this case, the bride price of 66,000 yuan, vehicles, and housing were all funded by Zuo, who was the direct payer of the marriage contract property. Due to the unsuccessful marriage, Zuo caused direct property losses, and he had a direct interest in the case. Therefore, he could sue as the plaintiff in this case.

legal link

    Article 5 of the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Series of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (1) " states that if a party requests the return of the bride price paid according to custom, the people's court shall support it if it is found that the following circumstances are: (1) Both parties have not gone through the marriage registration formalities; (2) Both parties have gone through the marriage registration formalities but have not lived together; (3) The payment before marriage has caused the payer to live in difficulties. The application of the provisions of Items 2 and 3 of the preceding paragraph shall be conditional on the divorce of both parties.

    Article 4 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Bride Price Disputes states that in a marriage contract property dispute, one party to the marriage contract and the parents who actually paid the bride price may act as co-plaintiffs; the other party to the marriage contract and the parents who actually received the bride price may act as co-defendants.

    Paragraph 1 of Article 1042 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China prohibits arranged marriages, sale of marriage and other acts that interfere with the freedom of marriage. It is forbidden to obtain property through marriage.

    This article is transferred from the "Shandong High Law" WeChat official account, thank you here!