Behind Shenzhen's 50,000 Divorces: If One Party Refuses to Sign, How Long Until a Court Ruling? How Courts View Property and Children

Last Wednesday, a woman doing foreign trade business in Longhua came to our Zhiming Law Firm. She had been married for 11 years, and her husband had started giving her the cold shoulder three years ago—he didn't contribute his salary to the family and ignored the children. When she raised divorce, his only response was: "I'll drag you to death." She asked me: "Lawyer Shen, if he flat-out refuses to sign, does that mean I can never get divorced?"
In 26 years of practice, I've heard this question no fewer than several hundred times. Many people have a misconception that divorce requires mutual consent, and that as long as one party stubbornly drags it out, the other party has no way out. That's actually not the case.

According to public data from the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission and the Shenzhen Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, approximately 50,000 couples register for divorce in Shenzhen each year. This figure only covers couples who have reached a mutual agreement. Not included are those whose negotiations broke down and who went directly to court to file lawsuits.
The divorce case filing volumes at Futian Court and Nanshan Court consistently rank among the top of all civil case types year after year. Simply put, those who manage to reach an uncontested divorce agreement are the minority who "part on good terms." Far more people cannot agree on how to divide the property, cannot agree on child custody, or face a spouse who simply refuses to cooperate — leaving litigation as the only option.
Article 1079 of the Civil Code clearly states that the statutory standard for granting a divorce judgment is "the mutual affection has truly broken down." How is "breakdown" determined? The article lists several circumstances: bigamy or cohabitation with another person, domestic violence, abandonment, repeated gambling or drug addiction with no reform despite admonition, and separation for a full two years due to discord in mutual affection.
But to be honest, these situations don't account for a high proportion in fast-paced cities like Shenzhen. What kind of divorce cases are the majority? When feelings have faded, when values clash, when there's long-term cold war, when each spouse lives their own life. Does this count as "breakdown of affection"?
The court will mediate. If mediation fails, and in the first lawsuit the other party firmly refuses and there are no statutory fault circumstances, the court usually rules against the divorce. What happens after the divorce is denied? Wait six months and file again. In the second lawsuit, the probability of the court ruling in favor of the divorce is very high.
The fastest is three months, and the slowest could be a year and a half. How is three months arrived at? If both parties reach a successful mediation under the court's auspices, the marital relationship is dissolved as soon as the mediation document is issued.
In divorce litigation in Shenzhen, over 70% of cases involve property division. This figure is not an exaggeration—an old, small apartment in Futian is worth three to four million yuan, while secondary-market homes in Nanshan start at ten million. The average amount in dispute ranges from three million to eight million yuan, and this does not even include savings, stocks, or funds.
In property division, the situations most prone to disputes are:
If one party pays the down payment before marriage and the loan is jointly repaid after marriage, the law recognizes the property as belonging to the party who paid the down payment, but the portion jointly repaid after marriage and the corresponding appreciation must be compensated to the other party. One of my clients was in Bao'an; the down payment for the house was paid by her husband in 2016, and the couple jointly repaid the mortgage for 7 years after marriage, with the house appreciating from 4 million to 6.5 million RMB. Upon divorce, her compensation for loan repayment and appreciation totaled over 900,000 RMB.
Where parents fund the purchase of a house. If, after marriage, the parents of one spouse pay the full purchase price for a house and register it in the name of their own child, unless there is an express agreement that it is a gift to both spouses, it shall be deemed a gift to that spouse alone and shall not constitute community property of the husband and wife.
Another type involves transferring property. I once handled a case where the husband, over six months before filing for divorce, transferred money from the account to his mother in multiple installments, totaling over 2 million yuan. Later, we applied for a court investigation order, obtained the bank statements, and traced every single transaction. Under Article 1092 of the Civil Code, a spouse who transfers marital community property may receive a smaller share or no share at all during division.
Many clients have asked me: "Lawyer Shen, if I don't have a house or a car, does that mean I can't get custody of my child?" That statement isn't right.
In child custody cases, the core principle is "conducive to the child's growth." Children under the age of two generally live with their mother; children over the age of eight must have their genuine wishes respected. The most critical age range is two to eight years old, where the court primarily considers who has provided more daily care and whose circumstances are better suited for the child's development.
What does "cared for the child more" mean? It's not just talk. I had a client in Longgang, a stay-at-home mom with no income. The husband worked in the Science and Technology Park, earning an annual salary of 600,000 yuan, with a house and a car — on paper, his conditions seemed overwhelmingly superior. But what evidence did we submit? From the child's birth to age six, the mother raised the child alone — kindergarten pickup and drop-off records, parent group chat logs, signatures on medical records when the child was sick, and photos and videos of meals she cooked every day. The most critical piece of evidence was this — in three years, the father accompanied the child to the park only twice, and both times it was arranged by the mother.
In the end, the court awarded custody to the mother, with the father paying monthly child support. Why? Because the court held that what the child needs is not "better material conditions" but "stable companionship." Of course, the premise for a full-time mother to obtain custody is that the other party pays sufficient child support, and the Shenzhen Intermediate Court generally references 20% to 30% of the other party's monthly income.
Many people assume that divorce lawsuits have to be fought tooth and nail to the bitter end, but that's not actually the case. Last year, the Zhiming Family Law Team handled a case that took only 3 months from filing to receiving the mediation document.
That couple owns two properties in Nanshan, one for self-occupancy and one for rental. The husband runs a company, and the wife works at a bank. Both of them actually want a divorce; they just cannot reach an agreement on property division: the husband wants to keep the rental property for his company's cash flow, while the wife firmly insists that each of them should take one of the two properties.
After we took over, we made a key move: we calculated the market value, loan balance, and rental income of both properties in full, then factored in the cash flow of the man's company over the past three years, and devised a plan of "cash compensation + property division"—the man keeps the self-occupied property, the woman takes the rental property, but the man compensates the woman 1.2 million yuan, to be paid in three installments.
The woman initially didn't accept this plan—she felt that cash wasn't as good as getting the property. We ran the numbers for her: although the rental property brings in 8,000 yuan per month in rent, after deducting the 6,500 yuan monthly mortgage payment, the actual take-home is only 1,500 yuan. In contrast, if the man's 1.2 million yuan compensation were put into bank wealth management products or conservative funds, at a 4% annual return, that would yield 48,000 yuan per year. More importantly, if the property were transferred to the woman, she would face significant pressure making the mortgage payments alone, and if she defaulted and the property went to auction, the loss would be even greater.
Once the accounts were settled, the plan came together. Both parties signed a mediation agreement under the judge's guidance, without a single court hearing or any burnt bridges, and child custody was worked out through negotiation as well.
If you're trapped in a divorce dispute—the other party won't sign, property can't be divided, or you can't win custody of the children—don't tough it out alone. First, get clear on three things: whether your relationship meets the statutory conditions for divorce, what the property structure actually looks like, and who the child is currently living with.
Think it over carefully before coming to talk to a lawyer. We've handled over a thousand divorce cases and have seen it all. Whatever you're uncertain about, chances are it's not the first time we've come across it.
Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, Room 1802, Block A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen. Tel: 0755-25986969. You can give me a call before coming over and tell me about your situation, so I can see what cards you have to play.

(This article is for general legal education purposes only. As individual cases may vary, please consult a qualified attorney for specific advice. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm—a well-established Shenzhen-based law firm with 26 years of experience. Tel: 0755-25986969; Address: Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shisha North 2nd Street, Futian District, Shenzhen.)