The bride price is a Xi custom in traditional Chinese marriage culture, which usually refers to the fact that before the marriage agreement is reached, the man or his relatives pay the woman or his relatives a certain amount of cash or property according to the Xi custom, as a marriage agreement and commitment. However, in real life, there are times when the bride price is returned. This article will discuss several situations for the return of bride price and related legal issues.
According to the Supreme People's Court, the Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates three circumstances under which the bride price can be returned
1) The parties have not gone through the marriage registration formalities;
2) The parties have gone through marriage registration formalities but do not live together;
3) Premarital payments that cause hardship to the payor.
However, the problems in reality may be more complicated, such as although the parties have not registered their marriage, they have held a wedding banquet in accordance with Xi customs and live together; There are also those who have registered their marriages but have lived together for a short period of time. These examples cannot be applied to the provisions of the above-mentioned judicial interpretations, and whether the bride price should be returned has become a major problem.
Therefore, there are three main principles for resolving bride price disputes:
The first is to clarify the basic principle that it is strictly forbidden to extort money or property under the pretext of marriage. The second is to fully respect folk Xi and reasonably determine the scope of bride price on the basis of the general recognition of the local people. The third is to adhere to the problem-oriented, give full consideration to the purposeful characteristics of the bride price, and consider the proportion of different factors such as the time spent living together, marriage registration, and childbearing in the realization of the fundamental purpose of marriage, so as to reasonably balance the rights and interests of both parties. Although the parties have not registered their marriage, but have held a wedding banquet in accordance with Xi and live together in the name of husband and wife, they shall give priority consideration to factors such as the time spent living together and the conceiving of children, and reasonably determine whether to return it and the proportion of return.
In the case of "flash separation", after the two parties registered their marriage, they did not form a stable living state due to various reasons. The length of time spent together should be taken into account in determining whether and in proportion the bride price should be returned. At the same time, the impact of temporary cohabitation on the woman should be considered to balance the interests of both parties.
In addition, the amount of the dowry shall be deducted when determining the amount of the bride price to be returned.
In short, when handling disputes involving the return of dowry, full consideration should be given to China's traditional Xi and actual conditions, respect the legitimate rights and interests of both parties, and take appropriate legal measures to maintain social fairness, justice and stability.