Lufa case [2023] 704
Image source network invasion and deletion)
Brief facts of the case
A and B were originally husband and wife, and gave birth to a daughter C during marriage, and later divorced by agreement, and agreed that a set of real estate jointly owned by both parties would be donated to the legitimate daughter C. Subsequently, Mr. A filed a lawsuit to revoke the gift.
Heard by the courts
Where the husband and wife repent on the issue of property division after divorce by agreement and request that the property division agreement be revoked, and the people's court does not discover that there were circumstances such as fraud or coercion at the time of the conclusion of the property division agreement, the parties' litigation claims shall be rejected in accordance with law. The divorce agreement is an organic whole formed around the dissolution of the marital relationship after the husband and wife weigh their interests and consider the pros and cons, and each content is both independent of each other and interdependent, and the change in the content of one property division is likely to cause changes in the division of other property and child support, and even different results may occur for whether to agree to the divorce. The divorce agreement is not a simple unconditional gratuitous gift contract, the agreement is legally binding on both parties, and one party cannot arbitrarily revoke the property agreed in the divorce agreement to donate property to a third party. The courts of first and second instance rejected A's claims.
What the judge said
The principle of good faith shall be implemented in the signing and performance of divorce agreements. In the divorce agreement, the agreement between the parties to donate joint property to minor children and the dissolution of marriage, child support, division of joint property, and repayment of joint debts are mutually premised and mutually consequenced, and are an organic whole formed around the dissolution of the marital relationship. In the case where the marriage relationship between the two parties has been dissolved and irreversible, if one party is allowed to repent, it is not only contrary to the principle of good faith, but also not conducive to protecting the interests of minor children.
Links to legal provisions
Article 70 of the Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China on Marriage and FamilyIt provides: "Where the husband and wife repent on the issue of property division after agreeing to divorce and request the revocation of the property division agreement, the people's court shall accept it. Where, after trial, the people's court does not discover that there was fraud or coercion at the time of entering into the property division agreement, it shall reject the parties' litigation claims in accordance with law."
*: Tai'an Intermediate Court.