In our country's traditional concept, husband and wife are one. Since the two parties have entered into a marriage relationship, they are one family. Since they are a family, they cannot speak two families. The property obtained after marriage is the common property of the husband and wife, forming an economic community. The money transaction between husband and wife is to go in the left pocket and out of the right pocket. So in this case, how is the legal handling of "marital loan" between husband and wife?
Basic case
Qiu Cheng and Yang Zhen have been married for five years. Although his wife Yang Zhen’s income as a people’s teacher is not high, it is very stable. In addition, she is very careful in life, and their lives are still beautiful. Her husband Qiu Cheng used to work in a real estate company. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the industry was laid off after a cold winter. Since then, he has been idle at home and went to the chess and card room to play cards and spend time. Later, he owed 20,000 yuan in usury outside. The creditor came to his house. In helplessness, Yang Zhen transferred the money to Yang Zhen on the premise that Qiu Cheng issued a 20,000 IOU to Yang Zhen. Since then, the relationship between the two has cracked. In November 2021, Yang Zhen filed a divorce with the court and asked Qiu Cheng to repay the above-mentioned debts.
The court ruled
After trial, the court held that: in this case, although the plaintiff and defendant were husband and wife, they were still two equal individuals with independent personality, and the marriage relationship would not cause them to lose their status as an independent civil subject . Since the debt relationship between the two is a legal loan relationship voluntarily formed between two independent civil subjects and should be protected by law, the judgment supports all the plaintiff's lawsuit requests.
Lawyer's statement
1. As equal civil subjects, there is a realistic possibility that husband and wife will form a creditor-debtor relationship. The essence of marriage loans is a loan relationship. Under the conditions stipulated by law, they should be handled in accordance with ordinary creditor-debtor relationships.
2. "Marriage loan" is protected by law as long as it meets the conditions stipulated by the following laws:
(I) A loan agreement is entered into between husband and wife;
Due to the special nature of the identity of the couple, the money transactions between the two parties are very frequent. To clarify the nature of the loan, you need to provide a promissory note or loan agreement to prove it, which also meets the requirements of private lending.
(II) The source of the loan is the common property of the couple;
that is, it must meet the situation of lending to one spouse with the common property of the couple.
(III) The purpose of the loan is to lend it to one party for personal business activities or for other personal affairs;
One party’s loan does not benefit the lending party. This is the basic principle of judging “engaging in personal business activities or for other personal affairs”. Only when the loan is not used for family life together will the court support the request for return.
(IV) file a lawsuit for private lending separately. The court will not support it. Only when divorce can the loan within the marriage be requested to repay the loan within the marriage.
3. In practice, in order to avoid the indescribable situation of "marital lending", both husband and wife can also sign a "Matrimonial Property Agreement", which stipulates that their respective property and property shall belong to each other before and during marriage. This agreement can prove that both parties are economically independent and there is no confusion of property. Since both parties are not only independent in personality, but also independent in property, if "marital loan" occurs, one party can claim repayment from the other party as agreed in the agreement.
