If a man cheats on a third party during the marriage and gives away the joint property of the husband and wife to the third party without the wife's knowledge, can the wife demand that the third party pay back?Recently, the Chenggu County People's Court heard a gift contract dispute and supported his wife to defend her property rights and interests
Basic facts of the case:Wang and Tang registered their marriage in April 2018, and Tang and Liu had an extramarital affair in May 2020. As of April 2023, without Wang's knowledge, Tang donated property totaling more than 570,000 yuan to Liu through WeChat, Alipay, rent payment and other means. In May 2023, Wang sued Liu and Tang to the court, requesting a judgment to confirm that Tang's gift was invalid and requiring Liu to return the gift of more than 570,000 yuan.
What the judge said:During the existence of the marital relationship, the husband and wife jointly enjoy ownership of the joint property regardless of their share, and when either party disposes of the joint property of the husband and wife for reasons other than the needs of daily life, they shall reach a consensus through consultation, otherwise they have no right to dispose of the joint property of the husband and wife alone. In this case, Tang's repeated transfers and payments to Liu occurred during the existence of the marital relationship between Wang and Tang, and there were amounts with special meanings such as "520" and "1314" in Tang's multiple WeChat transfers to Liu, and there were situations such as calling Liu "wife" and "daughter-in-law", and Liu also accepted Tang's transfer and payment of more than 570,000 yuan on his behalf, and from the perspective of general social cognition, the above-mentioned transfer amount exceeded the normal scale between ordinary friends. According to the evidence in this case, Tang's gift to Liu was not out of the daily life or needs of the husband and wife, Wang did not know about it and did not recognize it afterwards, and Tang's unauthorized disposal of the joint property of the husband and wife harmed Wang's lawful property rights and interests, and the gift was invalidAnd husband and wife should be faithful to each other, respect each other, care for each other, and maintain equal, harmonious, and civilized marriage and family relations, Tang's act of donating the joint property of the husband and wife to the opposite sex outside of marriage without authorization after marriage obviously violates public order and good customs, so according to the law, Liu should return more than 570,000 yuan donated by Tang.
Relevant Laws:Paragraph 2 of Article 153 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China: Civil juristic acts that violate public order and good customs are invalid.
Article 157:After a civil juristic act is invalid, revoked, or determined not to take effect, the property acquired by the actor as a result of the act shall be returned;where it cannot be returned or there is no need to return it, compensation shall be made at a discounted price. The party at fault shall compensate the other party for the losses suffered thereby;Where all parties are at fault, they shall each bear corresponding responsibility. Where the law provides otherwise, follow those provisions.
Article 1062: The following property acquired by the husband and wife during the existence of the marital relationship shall be the joint property of the husband and wife and shall be jointly owned by the husband and wife: (1) wages, bonuses and remuneration for labor services;(2) Income from production, operation and investment;(3) the proceeds of intellectual property rights;(4) Inherited or donated property, except as provided for in item 3 of Article 1063 of this Law;(5) Other property that shall be jointly owned.
Husband and wife have equal rights to dispose of joint property.
**: Chenggu Court
Authors: Yan Xi, Jiang Xingpeng
Editor: Liu Yixiao
Review: Yao Qiming