Man sued after divorce and returned to the court of bride price: no support

According to official WeChat news from the Furong District People’s Court of Changsha City The issue of wedding dowry has gradually become a hot topic in the current society. Once the marriage breaks down, there will be many disputes about the return of the dowry. So what kind of circumstances can the return of the dowry be returned?

Case introduction

The plaintiff Tang and the defendant Zhang met through their parents and soon had the intention of getting married. In March 2020, Tang bought a pair of rings, gold bracelets, and gold necklaces for a total of 48,600 yuan. In April 2020, Tang and Zhang were engaged. Tang and his parents gave Zhang 3 red envelopes at the engagement banquet. The red envelopes contained 6666 yuan, 8888 yuan, and 88888 yuan in cash. In May 2020, Tang and Zhang registered their marriage in the Civil Affairs Bureau, and they lived together in Zhang’s house after marriage. In October 2020, Tang and Zhang registered their divorce at the Civil Affairs Bureau on the grounds that their relationship broke up due to their disagreements. The “Divorce Agreement” stated that both parties had no property and debt issues. In March 2021, Tang filed a lawsuit with this court on the grounds that the payment of the gift to Zhang before marriage caused her difficulties in life, and he demanded that Zhang return the gift and the purchase of three golds.

Verdict

The court found that Tang bought a commercial house in 2016 with a loan period of 30 years, and in 2018, he purchased a vehicle with a loan period of 3 years. Tang’s average monthly salary from March 2020 to January 2021 is 10169.18 yuan. During the duration of the marriage relationship between Tang and Zhang and at the beginning of the divorce, Zhang transferred a total of 20,310 yuan to Tang via WeChat.

One of the circumstances in which the law provides for the return of the betrothal gift is the pre-marital payment that causes the beneficiary’s life difficulties. Such living difficulties should be understood as absolute difficulties, which means that the local basic living standard cannot be maintained by relying on personal property and property obtained at the time of divorce or there is no place to live after divorce. It is not the relative difficulty that the living standard is lower than the original level due to the dowry payment. In this case, Tang has real estate under his name and a residence after divorce. He already had mortgages, car loans, credit card debts and other debts before getting married. Although he is currently unemployed, there are multiple reasons for Tang’s current economic tension. It cannot be proved that it was caused by the betrothal gift. Therefore, Tang’s request for Zhang to return the gift was lack of factual and legal basis, and the Furong District Court decided not to support it.

Related laws

“The Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation on the Application of the “Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China” Marriage and Family Edition (1)” Article 5 paragraph 1 stipulates: “If a party requests the return of a customary gift, if the following circumstances are found, the people’s court It should be supported: (1) Both parties did not go through the marriage registration formalities; (2) Both parties went through the marriage registration formalities but did not live together; (3) Payments before marriage caused difficulties for the payer.”