Study On The Ownership Of The House Funded By Parents After Marriage

With the further development of the socialist market economy,the housing price in China is in a state of continuous rise,which makes many young couples unable to afford the financial burden of house purchase by themselves.Due to the influence of blood ties and traditional ethical values of marriage and family,the parents of one or both of the spouses will voluntarily share some financial pressure of the house purchase for their children.The parents' financial contribution for the house purchase for their children after marriage has become a common phenomenon in real life.However,on account of various reasons,the parents usually do not have a clear meaning when they contribute for the house and they will not sign a written agreement with the spouses.As a consequence,there are many disputes over the ownership of the house or the funds when the marital relationship of the spouses breaks up.Thus,the ownership of the house funded by the parents has become a difficult problem in the division of divorce property.The legislative body has recognized this practical issue and has made a few of provisions in the two judicial interpretations of marriage law,while,these legal provisions are ambiguous and not detailed,which result in the conflicts of the application of different rules in judicial practice.In theory and practice,there is a great deal of controversy about the following issues involved in the ownership of house funded by parents,which include the nature of the parents' financialcontribution,the criteria for judging the expressed intention of contribution,the ownership of the house or the funds,the specific disposition when divorced and so on.The ownership and division of the above-mentioned house have a direct impact on the interests of the parents and the shared interests of the young couples,and further affect people's marriage expectation and marriage behavior,which ultimately concern about happiness and satisfaction of the family and stability and harmony of the society.In consideration of the significance of this kind of house,it's a necessity to clarify and analyze the relevant legal issues,to look for the deficiencies of the available provisions and to give the corresponding improvement suggestions,so as to provide theoretical basis and solution for judicial practice.This paper is divided into three parts:The first part is an overview of parents' financial contribution for the house purchase for their children after marriage.Firstly,the connotation of parents' contribution is defined to make clear that the behavior needs to meet the requirements of time,purpose and proof.Then,the typical characteristics of the contribution behavior are summarized in order to lay the groundwork for the legal analysis in the later article.Secondly,the house funded by the parents after marriage is successively classified into several types according to the standards,including the fund provider,the amount of capital contribution and registration of the house.In this way,the types that have different resolutions in practice are sorted out.Finally,starting from the cognizance of the nature of the parents' capital contribution,it is most appropriate to presume the parents' contribution as a grant behavior.Hereby,the influence mechanism of parents' contribution on the ownership of the house is preliminarily figured out.The second part mainly focuses on the analysis of current relevant provisions.Through the analysis of the legislation evolution,the normative content of each clause and the reason for the change of the content can be confirmed.The second is the interpretation of the relation and literary meaning of the provisions.The relations between the aforementioned legal provisions are complementary and refined.The means of expressed intention of the grant behavior include express and implied,andthe content of the intention does not have to reach the extent to which the other spouse knows.The meaning of capital contribution in article 7 of the judicial interpretation(III)shall be limited to full capital contribution.Finally,by means of summarizing the case trial in judicial practice,the main points of the disputes over this kind of house and the problems in the application of the provisions have been converged.The third part places emphasis on the specific identification and divorce settlement of the house funded by the parents after marriage.Firstly,the registration of property right shall not be regarded as the criteria for judging the expressed intention of the parents' contribution.Thereby,in principle,the parents' contribution shall be presumed to be shared by the spouses,which accords with the original intention of legislation and the traditional ethical values of marriage and family.Secondly,on the basis of the above point of view,the ownership of the house or the fund shall give priority to the parties' agreement.If there is no valid agreement,expect for the kind stipulated in article 7 of the judicial interpretation(III),in other kinds,the ownership of the house or the fund shall be presumed to be shared by the spouses,meanwhile,the parents' contribution shall be taken as a factor in the divorce division of the house.Finally,some suggestions are put forward for the settlement of the problems discussed in this paper,including the application relationship between Marriage Law and Property Law and the role of judicial interpretation.