The amount of dowry the groom must pay to the bride's family at a wedding Photo: PAPER
The draft was released in mid-December, after hundreds of thousands of disputes over dowry money that have occurred across the country for decades in China. The draft clearly states that “it is strictly forbidden to use marriage as an excuse to extort property,” and also states that “if one party takes property through marriage in the name of dowry and the other party requests it to be returned, the People’s Court must provide assistance.” The core spirit of the typical cases mentioned and the draft released for comments this time can be understood as: Whether or not to return dowry money depends on the effect of that money in actual married life and whether it affects the outcome of the marriage contract.
Bride prices are very common in China. These are amounts of money or gifts in kind such as jewelry, cars, houses that the groom must give to the bride’s family before taking her home. This custom is becoming distorted, as “bride prices” have skyrocketed in recent years. Excessively high bride prices are also one of the causes of conflicts and broken marriages, especially in rural areas.
The Jilin Provincial High People's Court has just announced the case of a dowry dispute between Mr. Wang and Ms. Yin. The verdict shows that after nearly a year of dating, in December 2016, the two decided to get married. Wang gave the bride's family 100,000 yuan (more than 320 million VND) for the dowry ceremony. Because Yin was not of legal age for marriage (20 years old), they only held a wedding on January 1, 2017, but did not complete the marriage registration procedure. On May 26, 2017, Yin gave birth to a son. They lived together until early 2020, then broke up due to emotional discord. During the 3 years of living together, the two still did not register their marriage. During the separation, the boy lived with his father. In October 2020, Wang filed a lawsuit asking Yin to return the 100,000 yuan dowry. The court of first instance held that the dowry (also known as the “bride price” in some places) was money paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s family during the engagement, for the purpose of marriage. As the two parties had not yet completed the marriage registration procedures, the court held that it should support Wang’s request to get back the dowry. Yin disagreed and appealed to the Jilin Provincial High Court.
Not long ago, news spread in Shanxi about a man born in 1980 who met his girlfriend through a blind date. After dating for 8 months, the two planned to get married. The man had to pay the girl's family a dowry of 188,000 yuan (RMB) as requested. The man said: "A dowry of 188,000 yuan is normal in this area. We call it a 'big package'. Of the 188,000 yuan dowry, I only had 168,000 yuan in savings and I borrowed another 20,000 yuan from friends." Unexpectedly, before the two got married, the girl's family asked for another 30,000 yuan. The man said: "I didn't have the money to give more, I had to borrow money from others." The two later argued over the issue and the man broke off the engagement, demanding back his 188,000 yuan dowry. The incident attracted the attention of local residents and many netizens expressed their support for the man’s decision.
“The new judicial interpretation is not only more flexible, but also more scientific and appropriate,” Ye Mingyi, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics specializing in family law, told Sixth Tone .
According to the new document, Chinese courts should not only focus on whether a couple is legally married when resolving disputes, but also more comprehensively assess the amount of the dowry, the length of time they have lived together, how the dowry was used, and whether they have children. Currently, courts will support a request for the return of the dowry if one of three conditions is met: The marriage has not been registered; the marriage has been registered but not lived together; or the dowry “causes difficulties” for the groom’s life. Ye Mingyi said the current court approach is too simplistic and unreasonable, because real-life couples can live together for years without registering their marriage, while many registered couples only live together for a short time.
Another challenge in resolving bride price disputes is that different regions have their own customs and practices. A 2022 study of bride price disputes found that bride prices in China are typically three to 10 times the annual income of the bridegroom. On China Judgments Online , an official database of court rulings, there are more than 140,000 cases involving disputes over the return of bride prices.
Thai An
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