Study On The Burden Of Proof In Relation With Matrimonial Debts

As one of the most frequent disputes in judicial practices,the academic community usually agree that the definition of matrimonial debt means "the debts contracted during a marriage and for which both spouses are equally liable".Disagreements of such definition arises within the academic community in recent years due to the inability of fact-finding in connection with the usage of proceeds,taken into account with the nature of spousal relationship,social polarization and the loss of control for the creditors in respect with the usage of the proceeds.The courts may rely on a presumption of fact based on the rules of evidence.Conflicts arise When the presumption of fact is in contrary to the objective facts.According to the big data analysis,the author classifies the matrimonial debt,and finds that although the matrimonial debt mainly occurs in the loan contract relationship,there will also be in the lease contract relationship,the sale contract relationship and the tort legal relationship.Except that the creditors in the loan contract relationship enjoy the dominant position,the creditors in other legal relationships are not able to implement the principle of "joint-signing of debts".The creditors,the debtors and the debtor's spouses have different evidential distances,cost of proof and proof ability in each legal relationship.Therefore,it is not in conformity with the requirement of substantive proof such as fairness and justice that the burden of proof should be entirely borne by one party.Therefore,it is the responsibility of judicial community to identify the rules for recognition of the matrimonial debt,which requires the rational formulation of the burden of proof in recognizing the matrimonial debt,such as detailing the current rules of evidence by debt category.At the same time,in view of the objective situation that the parties involved in the matrimonial debt dispute have difficulty in proving evidence,it is necessary and reasonable to retain the rules of construction.The author regards "for the family daily life needs","reality universality" and " tolerance of spouses" as the premise facts of the rules of construction.The final conclusion is that creditors should bear the burden of proof in liabilities for loan,for non daily life and for infringement of illegal activities;liabilities for daily life,for production and for infringement of legal activities,the rules of construction should be adopted.And then the debtors and their spouses bear the burden of proo f.