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| Premarital/prenuptial
agreement |
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A
prenuptial agreement ("prenup" for short) is
a written contract concluded by two people before they
are married. A prenup typically lists all of the property
each person owns (as well as any debts) and specifies
what each person's property rights will be after the marriage.
Contrary to popular opinion, prenups are not just for
the rich. While prenups are often used to protect the
assets of a wealthy fiancé, couples of more modest means
are increasingly turning to them for their own purposes.
For example, a marrying couple with children from prior
marriages may use a prenup to spell out what will happen
to their property when they die, so that they can pass
on separate property to their children and still provide
for each other, if necessary. Without a prenup, a surviving
spouse might have the right to claim a large portion of
the other spouse's property, leaving much less for the
kids.
Couples with or without children, wealthy or not, may
simply want to clarify their financial rights and responsibilities
during marriage. Or they may want to avoid potential arguments
if they ever divorce, by specifying in advance how their
property will be divided, and whether either spouse will
receive alimony or not. Prenups can also be used to protect
spouses from each other's debts, and they may address
a multitude of other issues as well. If you don't make
a prenuptial agreement, Chinese laws determine who owns
the property that you acquire during your marriage, as
well as what happens to that property at divorce or death.
Depending on Chinese law property acquired during your
marriage is known as either marital or community property.
Chinese law may even have a say in what happens to some
of the property you owned before you were married.Under
the law, marriage is considered as a contract between
bride and groom, and with that contract comes certain
automatic property rights for each spouse. For example,
in the absence of a prenup stating otherwise, a spouse
usually has the right to:
1. Share salary and bonus acquired during marriage;
2. Share earnings from business production and operation;
3. Share the property obtained from inheritance and donation
except the inheritance and donation specified just for
one spouse;
4. Incur debts during marriage that the other spouse may
have to pay for, and
5. Other property obtained during the marriage.
If these laws -- called marital property, divorce, and
probate laws -- aren't to your liking, it's time to think
about a prenup, which in most cases lets you decide for
yourselves how your property should be handled especially
for these foreigners who are going to have a marriage
in China. A premarital agreement should only be drafted
by qualified family lawyers. It is definitely not a do-it-yourself
area of law. |
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