After the couple got married, they planned to buy a house in order to live better. The father's parents helped pay the down payment, and the house was registered in the couple's name. If the latter two intend to divorce because of their incompatibility, can the woman's request for division according to the current value of the house be supported? Recently, the Nantong Intermediate People's Court of Jiangsu Province made a final judgment of the first instance to uphold the divorce dispute, holding that the donation of the man's parents during the duration of their marriage was not clearly a gift to the man himself, but should be recognized as a joint gift to the husband and wife, which is the joint property of the husband and wife, and the woman has the right to request division.

In March 2020, Xiaowei and Xiaoxi met and fell in love quickly after being introduced. In order to live better in the future, the two people are going to buy a wedding house and have a preference for a commercial house, but they need to pay 500000 yuan down payment in advance. On August 20, Xiao Wei's parents transferred a down payment of 100000 yuan to a real estate company because of his small savings. On September 9, Xiao Wei and Xiao Qian went through marriage registration. On the 15th, the two people signed a Commercial Housing Sales Contract with a real estate company, and jointly purchased a commercial housing with a total price of 1.5 million yuan, including the remaining down payment of 400000 yuan and a commercial loan of 1 million yuan. After the contract was signed, Xiaowei's parents again contributed 400000 yuan for the down payment. On October 13, the two people handled the real estate ownership certificate of the house, and the property right was registered as jointly owned by them.

After marriage, the relationship between the two was once fair, and they used the couple's common income to repay the mortgage, but they often had conflicts because of life trivia. At the end of December 2023, the two decided to divorce after quarreling again, and sued to the People's Court of Tongzhou District, Nantong City for failing to reach an agreement on housing division.

In the court, Xiao Wei claimed that although the house was registered as a joint property of two people, the down payment was funded by his parents, and the subsequent loans were also mainly repaid by him, so it should be his personal property, and he could appropriately compensate Xiao Xi 200000 yuan. In this regard, Xiao Xikang argued that only 100000 yuan of the down payment of the house was paid by Xiao Wei's parents before marriage, and whether the remaining 400000 yuan was contributed by Xiao Wei's parents was unclear, and Xiao Wei's parents did not indicate that it was a gift to Xiao Wei personally when they helped to contribute, so it should be recognized as a joint gift to both of them, and the principle of half sharing should be followed.

The Tongzhou District Court held after hearing that if the parents contributed to the purchase of houses for both parties before the marriage of the parties, the contribution should be recognized as a gift to their own children, except for those whose parents explicitly gave to both parties. After the parties get married, if their parents contribute to the purchase of a house for both parties, the matter shall be handled in accordance with the agreement; If there is no agreement or the agreement is not clear, it shall be handled in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code on the joint property of husband and wife. In this case, although Xiaoxi is not clear about the specific contribution of Xiaowei and his parents for the 400000 yuan down payment after marriage, she does not recognize that this part of the money is contributed by Xiaowei's parents. However, according to the law, even though the payment of this paragraph according to Xiao Wei's statement was made by his parents, because the house involved in the case was purchased by Xiao Wei and Xiao Qian after marriage and registered in the name of Xiao Wei and Xiao Qian, in the absence of explicit agreement on the nature of the relevant contribution by Xiao Wei's parents, it should be regarded as the joint gift of Xiao Wei's parents to both husband and wife during the marriage of Xiao Wei and Xiao Qian, and should be attributed to Xiao Wei Xiaoxi is jointly owned. The joint property of the husband and wife should have been equally divided at the time of division. However, considering the current value of the house is 2.2 million yuan, the down payment of another 100000 yuan is premarital payment and the remaining 900000 yuan of loan has not been repaid, and the net value after deduction of relevant funds is 1.2 million yuan. Based on the contributions of Xiao Wei and Xiao Qian to the house and the living conditions of the husband and wife, the house is determined to be owned by Xiao Wei at his discretion, Xiaowei made a discount compensation of 600000 yuan to Xiaoxi.

Xiaowei refuses and appeals to the court of second instance. Nantong Intermediate Court upheld the original judgment after hearing.

(Wu Zhenyu, Ancient Forest)

■ Judge's statement ■

This case involves the division of the husband and wife's common property. According to Article 1062 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the following property acquired by husband and wife during the period of marriage is the joint property of husband and wife, which shall be jointly owned by husband and wife: (1) wages, bonuses and remuneration for labor services; （2） Income from production, operation and investment; （3） Income from intellectual property; （4） Inherited or donated property, with the exception of the third item of Article 1063 of this Law; （5） Other properties that should be jointly owned. Husband and wife have equal rights to dispose of their common property. According to the provisions of this article, unless otherwise agreed, gifts or inherited property received during the marriage relationship are jointly owned. In judicial practice, what is more controversial is the ownership of one parent of the husband and wife who helps to purchase the house. We can consider the source and proportion of the capital contribution, the purpose and nature of the donation, the living conditions together, the housing property registration and other factors to make a comprehensive judgment.

In this case, Xiao Wei's parents helped to make a down payment of 500000 yuan, of which 100000 yuan was paid before marriage and 400000 yuan was paid after marriage. The purpose was to help the two people to conclude a marriage and enhance the relationship between husband and wife, and there was no agreement on whether the relevant donation was made by Xiao Wei alone. Therefore, it should be recognized as a joint donation to Xiao Wei and Xiao Qian, and the relevant property is jointly owned, Therefore, Xiaoxi has the right to ask for half and half distribution based on the current value of the house after deducting premarital payments and the remaining loans.

It is worth mentioning that Article 7 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Code of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (II) (Draft for Comments) stipulates that parents make capital contributions for the purchase of houses for their children after marriage. During the marriage relationship, both parents or one parent makes partial capital contributions to purchase houses for the husband and wife, If there is no agreement or the agreement is unclear, and both parties claim the ownership of the house when divorcing the husband and wife's common property, and one party does not agree to obtain the house through competitive bidding, the people's court may, according to the source and proportion of capital contribution, living together and pregnancy, divorce fault, housing property registration and other facts, decide that the house should be owned by one party, and the party who obtains the house should compensate the other party for the discount. The judge in charge pointed out that the situation in the divorce dispute involving the division of the house purchased by the parents is complicated. In addition to the specific investment and property rights registration of the house, the purpose of the parents' investment, the nature of the related donation, the living together and childbearing of the husband and wife, as well as the divorce fault and other factors should be comprehensively considered, To properly balance the interests of the parties and highlight the concept of civilization and harmony in the core socialist values.

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