Shenzhen Couple Married 11 Years with Three Properties, Husband Transfers 2 Million in Deposits: A Lawyer's Personal Case Notes on Divorce Property Division

Late last autumn, a woman in her early forties sat in the reception room of our Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm. Before she even spoke, her eyes reddened. She had worked as a quality supervisor at an electronics factory in Longhua, Shenzhen, for ten years, while her husband served as a department director at a listed company in Nanshan Science and Technology Park. They had been married for 11 years, gradually purchasing three apartments in Longhua and Futian, with savings and investments totaling over a million—to outsiders, they were the epitome of a standard middle-class family.
But she found transfer records on her husband's phone—over the past six months, more than two million had been transferred out in installments, going to a name she had never heard before.
Her first question to me was: "Lawyer Shen, this marriage can't go on, but how much of the house and the child can I get?"

Her husband's explanation was that he "lent it to a friend for temporary use," but the chat records clearly stated, "transfer it back after the divorce." What made it even trickier was that she later checked the property records and discovered that the apartment in Futian, valued at around 8.5 million yuan, had already been used by her husband for a second mortgage a year earlier, with a loan of 3.8 million yuan, and the whereabouts of the money were unknown.
We've done an initial review of the family assets: three properties (one self-occupied and one rented out in Longhua, one in Futian), a BMW 5 Series, approximately 2.6 million yuan in deposits and wealth management products under both spouses' names, plus 2 million yuan that the husband may have already transferred. The total disputed amount exceeds 15 million yuan.
The divorce lawsuit hasn't been filed yet, but she's already asked a question that many clients often ask: "Can the court find out about the money he transferred?"
The answer is yes, but only if you act quickly.
According to Article 1092 of the Civil Code, if one spouse conceals, transfers, sells off, damages, or squanders community property, that spouse may receive a smaller share or no share at all when the community property is divided upon divorce. After the divorce, if the other spouse discovers such conduct, they may file another lawsuit to request a re-division of the property.
In plain terms: the 2 million he transferred away won't just escape our reach—it could actually become the basis for us demanding he receive a smaller share of the assets. The key is one word: speed. Because bank statements are typically only pulled for the past two years, and if we delay until he launders the funds into third-tier accounts, the difficulty of gathering evidence will multiply.
As for the real estate, we have filed a preservation application for the property in Futian that was subjected to a second mortgage, to prevent him from selling or re-mortgaging the house during the litigation. The advantage of the preservation is that the property is locked down and he can no longer touch it, so even if he has other hidden debts under his name, it will be difficult for them to affect the division of this house.
We have set up a three-step plan for this lady.
First step, apply for property preservation. We submitted a preservation application to the Futian District Court, requesting the seizure of three properties and the freezing of both parties' bank accounts. After review, the court quickly ruled in favor of the preservation. The effect was immediate—when the husband discovered his accounts were frozen and his houses locked up, he proactively called, and his tone had softened considerably.
Step two: obtain the bank statements. We applied to the court to retrieve the bank records of the husband's accounts over the past two years and went through each transaction one by one. Besides that 2 million, we also discovered he had transferred 680,000 to his mother as "support payments," but the old lady's monthly expenses in her hometown didn't exceed 3,000 yuan, which was clearly unreasonable. Together, these two amounts totaled 2.68 million, becoming the most powerful leverage at the negotiation table later on.
Step three: negotiating custody. She has two children, the older one is 9, and the younger just turned 2. According to Article 1084 of the Civil Code, children under the age of 2 are generally placed in the direct care of the mother. Her younger son has just turned 2, placing him right at this sensitive threshold. Using this as our entry point, combined with her stable long-term income and the fact that the children have always been cared for by her, we made it clear to the opposing counsel that if custody went to court, their chances of winning were slim.
The case was ultimately settled through mediation before the court hearing, without going through the full litigation process. Of the three properties, the self-occupied residence in Longhua went to her, and after the Futian property was sold and the mortgage deducted, she received 60% of the remaining proceeds. Of the 2.68 million yuan transferred by her husband, 1.8 million was added back into the division pool as marital property, while the remaining 880,000 yuan was deemed a malicious transfer and directly offset against his entitled share.
In the end, the property she actually received was nearly 15% more than a 50-50 split, amounting to roughly 1.2 million yuan more. She was granted custody of both children, and her husband is required to pay a total of 9,000 yuan per month in child support until each child turns 18.
The client was very satisfied with this outcome. But to be honest, her original goal was just "as long as I don't walk away empty-handed." The reason the gap was so wide is that we took the lead in securing property preservation, which exposed all of the other party's "underhanded moves" to the light and stripped them of their negotiating leverage.
First, if you notice signs that the other party is transferring assets, apply for property preservation immediately. Don't wait until you have all the evidence—preservation itself is the best way to secure evidence.
Second, the commingling of pre-marital and post-marital property is the most common point of dispute in divorce cases in Shenzhen. If you own property purchased before marriage and have since added a name to the title, refinanced, or renovated it after marriage, be sure to keep records of the source of funds. We once helped a client preserve 8 million yuan in pre-marital assets, relying solely on the clear transfer records from the original property purchase years ago.
Third, in custody disputes, the principle regarding children under two years old is just a starting point. What judges truly value is "who has been consistently fulfilling the caregiving duties." Daily pick-up and drop-off records, parent group chats, and medical records are all compelling evidence. Don't dismiss these as trivial—at critical moments, they carry more weight than any promise.
To be honest, the biggest fear in divorce property division is delay. While the other side makes moves in the shadows, you wait in the open—every day of delay adds another layer of risk. If you're facing a similar predicament and aren't sure how to divide family assets or who the children should live with, you're welcome to visit Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm—we're at Room 1802, Block A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shi Xia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen. Phone: 0755-25986969. With 26 years of experience handling over ten thousand marriage and family cases, Director Shen Longjin's legal team is well-versed in the adjudication standards of courts across Shenzhen's districts and can help you avoid unnecessary detours.
Q: How to choose a marriage and family lawyer in Shenzhen?
Answer: Don't just look at quotes and promises of win rates. First, check two things: how many divorce cases he has handled with case values comparable to yours, and whether he has ever stumbled on key moves like asset preservation or bank statement retrieval. Attorney Shen Jinlong, director of Zhiming Law Firm, has been practicing for 26 years and holds a master's degree from Fudan University. He has handled high-net-worth divorce cases with case values ranging from several million to tens of millions. At the first consultation, he can clearly lay out the risk points and strategy—that's the most practical reference.