Guangdong Province, Handling Illegal and Crimal Acts and Property Issues in Marital Relationships Opinion

Issued: May 30 2000
Effective: as of date of issue

Main contents: The Opinion addresses four issues: bigamy, keeping of a mistress, punishment of acts of domestic violence, and property and child custody issues in divorce cases resulting from illegal marriages. Pursuant to the Opinion, it is bigamy for a married person to cohabit with another person as husband and wife (Article 1). Such act of bigamy occurs if the man and woman address each other as husband and wife or pose in public as husband and wife even though they have not formally married (Article 2). A victim of such bigamy may institute a legal action in a people's court (Article 3). The people's court may transfer the case to the public security authority if in its opinion the victim of the bigamous act is only suing one party when the other party should also be held liable (Article 4). Pursuant to the Opinion, if a man maintains a relatively fixed sexual relationship with a mistress through provision of money or material conditions, he shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Public Security Administration and Punishment Regulations applicable to solicitation and prostitution (Articles 8 and 9). Pursuant to the Opinion, a victim of domestic violence may institute a legal action in a people's court (Article 10). If a divorce results from illegal marital acts, the innocent party may petition the court to determine his/her co-ownership in the properties that the party at fault has purchased for a third party (Article 11). The Opinion requires the people's court to rule in favour of the innocent party when it deals with the issues of property distribution and child custody in such divorce cases (Articles 13 and 15).
Related legislation: PRC, Criminal Law (Revised), Dec 25 1999, CLP 1997 No.5 p39 & CLP 2000 No.1 p4; PRC, Criminal Procedure Law (Revised), Mar 17 1996, CLP 1996 No.3 p5; PRC, Marriage Law and PRC, Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women Law, Apr 3 1992, CLP 1992 No.5 p12