Empirical Study On Marriage Property Disputes

Making an engagement before getting married is a custom in China. After the engagement ceremony, the husband’s side needs to pay a large amount of betrothal money for the wife’s family, and then the man and the woman begin to live together. During the period, they are not legal husband and wife, but actually they lead a life as husband and wife, and some of them even have babies. Once the two sides broke up because of incompatible personalities, neither prohibited nor encouraged extramarital love, etc; both families will be involved, and then the conflicts become fierce. All this is a difficult and hot issue for grass-roots court.China law advocates the freedom of marriage and transformation social traditions, so engagement is neither prohibited nor encouraged. In the marriage law issued in 1950 and1980 respectively and the amendment of the marriage law in 2001, there are fewer rules for engagement and they are too general to be carried out. In the judicial practice, the juridical processing of the judge with discretion is below standard and lack of uniform standard for judgment. The author in the grass-roots people’s court, dealt with a lot of engagement property disputes in rural areas of Gui Xi, and have broad vision as well as rich working experiences. The paper made a tentative analysis on the issue with the hope of using the little to get the big.The paper is composed of six parts, including introduction, four body parts, and conclusion. Firstly, the engagement relation and legal adjustment. The author elaborates the concept and nature of engagement, analyzes the current situation of the signed engagement and the elements of marriage relationship, so as to explore the legal adjustment on marriage conflicts. Secondly, typical case analysis. The author introduces the basic facts, the verdict, disputes with focal point and difficult point in three cases he dealt with and makes a summary of the characteristics of marriage property disputes in rural areas. Thirdly, identification and processing of the related engagement issues. The author not only studies the establishment and the effectiveness of marriage as well as the content of the established marriage but also the dissolution of the betrothal and the compensation of mental damage for one party breach of promise. Fourthly, identification and solution after returning the dissolution property. The author also studies the agreement of the engagement property, the nature of the gift and the engagement property in return. Combining with his own work experience, the author puts forward his constructive suggestions.