How should a divorced couple divide their children's 260,000 New Year's money?
Court: New Year’s money is not the joint property of husband and wife, it belongs to the children
Talking about New Year's money, it is probably the common memory of the Spring Festival in many people's hearts. As an important part of traditional Chinese culture, lucky money is not only the care and blessing from elders to younger generations, but also a continuation of family affection.
During the Chinese New Year, the happiest thing for children is to get the New Year's money. Some parents will open an account and deposit the New Year's money into a bank. So, who should own the New Year's money? What will happen to this money if the parents divorce? Let’s take a look at this case heard by Jiangbei Court.
Basic case facts
The divorced parents want to divide the children's savings
In 2006, Cai and Wang met at a friend's wedding and fell in love. The following year, the two officially registered their marriage, and gave birth to their eldest son Cai Moujia and second son Cai Mou B in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
At the beginning, the couple had a very harmonious relationship and lived a happy life. As time went by, the differences between the two parties on family issues such as children's education became more and more obvious, and the relationship between the husband and wife gradually developed rifts.
At the beginning of 2020, the two had another fierce dispute due to different education methods and concepts. After the dispute, Wang took Cai A and Cai B out of the place where they lived together with Cai. Since then, Wang and his two sons have been living with Wang's parents. Living together, in April and July of the same year, Wang and Cai filed for divorce respectively, but both were rejected by the court.
After more than 400 days of separation, Cai sued for divorce again and requested the division of the common property of the couple and the corresponding bank deposits in the names of Cai A and Cai B. Among them, the deposits in the names of Cai A and Cai B were received by them when they were growing up. The income from donations from others totaled more than 260,000 yuan.
referee result
New Year's money is not the joint property of husband and wife
This court believes that the relationship between the parties has indeed broken down. Support Cai’s request for divorce. The joint property of Cai and Wang is divided equally between them, but Cai’s request to divide the deposits in the names of Cai A and Cai B is not supported. The above-mentioned deposits are property transfers made by the elders to the younger ones based on kinship relations. As a gift, the deposit should belong to the minor himself. As the guardians of the minor, Cai and Wang have no right to dispose of the ward's property at will.
The property to be divided in a divorce case should be the common property of the husband and wife, and the New Year's money is not the joint property of the husband and wife. Therefore, Cai's request to divide the deposits in the names of his minor children Cai A and Cai B in the divorce case has no legal basis and is therefore rejected. this litigation request. After the verdict, neither party filed an appeal.
Typical meaning
Protect the legal property of minors
All basic rights of minors should be comprehensively and comprehensively protected by law. In this case, the deposits in the names of Cai A and Cai B were gifts received from their elders in their daily lives. This gift should be a property gift from the elders to the younger ones.
Although the two did not have full capacity for civil conduct when accepting the gift, from the perspective of protecting the property rights of minors, even when the minor is under eight years old and has no capacity for civil conduct, the intention to accept the gift is made by the guardian. It cannot change the result that the property belongs to the minor himself. Therefore, in a divorce case, neither spouse can request the division of the legal property belonging to the minor as a guardian. It can only be managed by the legal guardian, and the ownership of the property itself Still classified as a minor.
Affected by traditional concepts, parents do not pay enough attention to the property rights of their minor children. In practice, it often happens that minor children's "New Year's money" and other property are taken as their own. Therefore, parents should have corresponding awareness and set an example to protect minors. Rights including property rights. (The characters in this article are all pseudonyms)
Legal link
"Civil Code of the People's Republic of China"
Article 19 Minors over the age of eight are persons with limited capacity for civil conduct. Civil legal acts shall be performed by their legal agent or with the consent or ratification of their legal agent; however, they may independently perform civil legal acts for purely profit-making or Civil legal acts commensurate with their age and intelligence.
Article 20 Minors under the age of eight are persons without capacity for civil conduct and shall be represented by their legal representatives in performing civil legal acts.
Article 35 Guardians shall perform guardianship duties in accordance with the principle that is most beneficial to the ward. The guardian shall not dispose of the ward's property except to safeguard the interests of the ward.
When guardians of minors perform their guardianship duties and make decisions related to the interests of the ward, they should respect the true wishes of the ward based on the age and mental status of the ward.
When guardians of adults perform their guardianship duties, they should respect the true wishes of the ward to the greatest extent, and ensure and assist the ward to carry out civil and legal acts commensurate with his or her intellectual and mental health. The guardian shall not interfere with matters that the ward has the ability to handle independently.
Article 657 A donation contract is a contract in which the donor gives his property to the donee free of charge and the donee expresses his acceptance of the donation.
According to the WeChat public account of Chongqing Jiangbei District People’s Court
(Chongqing Morning News)