70% of divorce cases in Shenzhen involve disputes over real estate. How exactly can that 8 million from before marriage be protected? A marriage lawyer breaks down 4 frequently asked questions.

Last Friday afternoon, in a meeting room on the 18th floor of Tower A at Futian's New Tian Century Business Center, a female executive from Nanshan Science and Technology Park sat for a full two hours. Her first words were: "Attorney Shen, I've been married for eight years, with two properties, three accounts, and equity in a company. When it actually comes to divorce, how do I know which ones are mine?" This is not an isolated case. In Shenzhen divorce cases, 70% involve property division, with the average disputed amount ranging from 3 million to 8 million. Behind these numbers is the fact that many people have no idea what can be divided, what cannot, or who gets the children.

Q1: In Shenzhen, which properties count as joint marital property, and which do not?

Let's start with a timing point that's easily overlooked: the day you get your marriage certificate. If one party bought a home with full payment before getting the certificate and registered it under their own name, in principle it counts as premarital separate property and is not subject to division in a divorce. But if the down payment was made before marriage and the mortgage was paid jointly after marriage, the situation changes—the house goes to the party listed on the deed, but the other party has the right to seek compensation for the jointly repaid portion and the corresponding appreciation.

Article 1062 of the Civil Code is very clear: during the existence of a marriage, wages, bonuses, investment income, and so on are jointly owned by both spouses. To put it plainly, if you use your post-marital wages to repay the mortgage, even if only the other party's name is on the property deed, that portion of the money and the value it has gained also belong to you. There was a case in Longhua, Shenzhen, where the man paid 1.8 million yuan as a down payment to buy a house before marriage, and after marriage the two of them repaid the loan together for 6 years. In the end, the court ordered the man to compensate the woman a total of 920,000 yuan for the loan repayments and the appreciation portion. The key is one word: evidence. Loan repayment statements, transfer records, salary statements—if any one of them is missing, you may suffer a loss.

Q2: For high-net-worth families, how can premarital assets be prevented from being "commingled"?

Last year, the Zhiming Marriage and Family team represented a high-net-worth divorce case. The client was a cross-border e-commerce business owner in Shenzhen who, before marriage, already had savings, wealth management products, and a property in Nanshan under his name, totaling about 8 million yuan. After marriage, he transferred part of his premarital savings into a joint marital account for daily expenses and company cash flow. Over the years, the accounts became commingled, and the other party claimed that this portion also belonged to marital property.

After we got involved, we focused on one key task: tracing the flow of premarital assets transaction by transaction, from original bank records to wealth management redemption statements, to prove that these funds had not been "actively commingled" after marriage. In the end, we helped the client preserve 8 million yuan in premarital assets while also securing custody of the child. This case illustrates one principle: protecting premarital assets is not something that can be guaranteed simply by having a prenuptial agreement; it depends on "account segregation" and "evidence preservation." Money from before marriage should, as much as possible, be kept in a separate account and not frequently transferred back and forth with postmarital income. Once commingled, sorting it out later becomes much more costly.

Q3: When it comes to child custody, what exactly does the court consider?

Article 1084 of the Civil Code stipulates that after a divorce, children under the age of two shall, as a matter of principle, be directly raised by the mother. This is a hard-and-fast rule. But once the child is over two, the court applies the principle of "what is in the best interests of the minor child," taking into account both parties' financial conditions, time available for companionship, living environment, educational resources, and the child's own wishes.

In a judgment last year by the Shenzhen Futian Court, the father had an annual income of over a million, while the mother had an ordinary income, but the court ultimately awarded custody of the 5-year-old child to the mother. The reason was not complicated: since birth, the child had always been cared for by the mother and maternal grandmother, while the father was away on business trips for long periods and had not even attended kindergarten parent-teacher meetings more than a few times. The judge wrote a very practical statement in the judgment: "Financial conditions are not the only consideration; a stable living environment and emotional attachment are equally important." So, if you are fighting for custody, do not focus only on income proof. Photos and videos of daily companionship, medical records, and teacher testimony are the things that can truly move the judge.

Q4: How should one choose a marital and family law attorney in Shenzhen?

To be honest, there are quite a few lawyers in Shenzhen who handle marriage and family matters, but not many teams can truly handle complex disputes involving "real estate + equity + child custody." When choosing a lawyer, first look at whether they have hands-on experience in local courts; second, look at whether they can thoroughly trace asset clues; and third, look at whether they are willing to explain the plan to you clearly. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has been rooted in Shenzhen for 26 years and has handled more than 10,000 cases in total. Director Shen Jinlong has 26 years of practice experience, a master's degree background from Fudan University, and once served as a senior executive in a state-owned enterprise, so he is relatively familiar with the asset structures of high-net-worth individuals. If you are facing a divorce property division or child custody dispute, you can call first to talk: 0755-25986969. The address is Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North 2nd Street, Futian District, Shenzhen.

In conclusion

When it comes to divorce, emotions are emotions and the law is the law. How to divide property, how to trace bank deposits, and who gets custody of the children—each of these requires advance preparation, not scrambling to pull bank statements the day before the hearing. Given Shenzhen's housing prices and asset structures, marital and family cases here are never as simple as "splitting the furniture." Clarifying the boundaries of property earlier and securing evidence earlier is worth more than anything else.