The Marriage Law of the PRC provides for two systems: the legal community property system and the agreed community property system. In respect of the legal community property system, the Marriage Law prescribes the common property system according to which the property items acquired by both spouses during their marriage shall be owned jointly by them. On the other hand, the Marriage Law also stipulates the individual property system for spouses according to which the property acquired by either spouse before the marriage and certain property acquired during the marriage shall be owned by such spouse.
According to the provisions of the Marriage Law on the legal property system, Any of the following property items obtained by either spouse during the marriage shall be jointly owned by both spouses: (1) wages and bonuses; (2) income from business operation; (3) income from intellectual property rights; (4) any property acquired through inheritance or donation, except the property to be owned by either spouse under the will or donation contract; (5) any other property items which shall be owned by both spouses. According to the Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (II) enacted in 2003, The term "income from intellectual property rights" refer to the property income which has been or will be obtained during the marriage, and "any other property items which shall be owned by both spouses" include: (1) any income of either spouse from his/her personal property investment; (2) any housing subsidy and housing accumulation fund of either spouse which has been or will be obtained; and (3) any benefit of endowment insurance or bankruptcy resettlement compensation of either spouse which has been or will be obtained.
And according to the Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (II) enacted in 2003, the following property items are also are common to the spouses: (1) Of the one-time compensation items like military retirement pay, self-employment pay, etc., paid to a retired service member, the amount calculated by multiplying the number of years of the marriage relationship by the annual average amount (which is the result by dividing the total amount of the above items by the difference between the average life expectancy of 70 years and the actual age of such retired service member in the year of retirement) shall be deemed community property owned by to and owned by both the spouses; (2) If the parents of either spouse provide financial assistance for the purchase of a house for both spouses, the financial assistance shall be deemed as a gift to both the spouses and shall be community property owned by to and owned by both the spouses, unless the parents providing such assistance clearly indicate that such assistance is provided to either of the spouses; (3) A house leased by either spouse before marriage and purchased with community property after marriage but registered in the name of either spouse shall be recognized as community property.
