At 3 p.m. in a café in Futian District, Shenzhen, a woman sat down and her first words were: "Lawyer Shen, he listed the apartment under his name last week. What should I do?" She had been married for eight years, and her husband worked as an executive in Nanshan Science and Technology Park. The couple owned two apartments, one in Futian and one in Longhua. She had just discovered that over the past six months her husband had been quietly transferring out their savings, and now he was eyeing the properties. When she got married, she quit her job to stay home and raise the children. Now that her husband was asking for a divorce, what worried her most wasn't the relationship, but how those eight years would be accounted for.
This is not an isolated case. In the case files of Shen Jinlong, director of Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, such consultations occur almost every week. Director Shen has been practicing for 26 years and has handled hundreds of marriage and family cases. He once made a candid remark: "In divorce cases, the so-called 'emotional breakdown' no longer requires evidence. What truly requires a lawyer's case-by-case review is money and children."

Divorce cases in Shenzhen have their own "characteristics." According to the family trial white paper published by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in recent years and related public data, about 70% of divorce cases in Shenzhen involve property division, with the average disputed amount ranging from 3 million to 8 million yuan. Specifically in the three districts of Luohu, Futian, and Nanshan, property values are higher, and cases with disputed amounts exceeding 10 million yuan are not uncommon.
The second set of data concerns child custody. According to statistics, in custody rulings involving children under the age of 8, over 60% of Shenzhen courts awarded custody to the mother—but only on the condition that the mother had stable housing and a source of income, which in turn is tied to property division. Without a house, you lose half your confidence in fighting for custody.
The third set of data is even more concerning: in about 30% of divorce cases in Shenzhen, one party has concealed or transferred marital community property. The most commonly moved assets are bank deposits and nominee-held equity, while real estate is relatively harder to transfer due to the registration system, although cases of forged debts and below-market transfers have also occurred.
Q: I suspect my husband is transferring funds, but I can't get the bank statements. How can I check?
Answer: After filing the case, you can apply to the court for an investigation order, and the lawyer can take the order to the bank to obtain the other party's account statements from the past two years. The key action is to be "fast," to secure the evidence before the other party converts the funds into cash or transfers them overseas. Many banks in Shenzhen are highly cooperative with investigation orders, and branches in Futian and Nanshan generally provide statements within 5 to 10 working days.
Article 1062 of the Civil Code stipulates the scope of community property of spouses — wages, bonuses, investment returns, income from intellectual property rights, and property inherited or gifted during the marriage (except where the will or gift contract expressly specifies that it belongs to
Many Shenzhen parties have a misconception: they think that a house bought after marriage, even if only one person's name is on the title, counts as personal property. In reality, a house purchased with joint income after marriage is presumed to be marital joint property regardless of whose name it is registered under. The Shenzhen Intermediate Court has repeatedly confirmed this principle in multiple judgments in recent years.
But property division is not simply "fifty-fifty"; the court will comprehensively consider factors such as the proportion of capital contributions, mortgage repayment status, child custody arrangements, and both parties' sources of livelihood. For example, in a marriage lasting eight years, if the husband paid the down payment before marriage and both parties jointly repaid the mortgage after marriage, the property is awarded to the registered party upon divorce, but the portion of joint mortgage repayment made after marriage and the corresponding appreciation in value must be converted into cash compensation for the other party. How this amount is calculated can mean a difference of anywhere from several hundred thousand to over a million yuan in Shenzhen.
Article 1084 of the Civil Code stipulates that children under the age of two shall, in principle, live with their mother; children who have reached the age of two shall be adjudicated in accordance with the principle of what is most beneficial to the minor child; and children who have reached the age of eight shall have their genuine wishes respected.
When Shenzhen judges decide actual cases, they focus on three key dimensions: who spends more time on daily care, whose living environment is more stable, and whose work schedule better allows for school drop-offs and pickups. These three points are precisely what matter more than income level. Shenzhen parents typically work long hours with lots of overtime, so the court pays special attention to whether grandparents can assist with childcare, or whether one party has flexible working hours.
Question: My child is 5 years old and has always been raised by me and the grandmother. The man's income is much higher than mine. Can I fight for custody?
Answer: It’s possible to fight for it, but you need to turn “you take care of the child” into evidence. Daily drop-off and pickup records, communication records in the school parents’ group, signatures on medical records, or testimony from neighbors or teachers can all support your status as the “primary caregiver.” The income gap is not the decisive factor; the court cares more about the child’s stability in life and emotional attachment. Last year, there was a precedent case in Shenzhen Longhua District Court where the mother earned 8,000 yuan a month and the father earned 35,000 yuan a month, yet custody was still awarded to the mother, on the grounds that the child had been raised by the mother and grandmother since childhood, maintaining a stable living situation.
Director Shen Jinlong's team handled a high-net-worth divorce case in 2023, involving a client who was a business owner in foreign trade based in Shenzhen. She owned a property under her name before marriage, located in Houhai, Nanshan, valued at approximately 8 million yuan. After marriage, the property was rented out, and the rental income was deposited directly into her personal account.
The husband stated during the divorce: "Although this house was purchased by you before marriage, its post-marital appreciation and rental income constitute joint property, and I request a division." The opposing attorney also cited a judicial interpretation, which indeed stipulates that natural appreciation of pre-marital individual property after marriage is generally not considered joint property, but income derived from active management may be considered joint property.
The actions taken by Director Shen's team were crucial: they compiled all payment receipts and the timeline of property purchase contracts from before the party's marriage, proving that the property had not undergone any renovation or rental management investment after marriage, and that the rent constituted "passive income" rather than business revenue. At the same time, they conducted a segregated audit of the party's personal account transactions and household expenditure accounts, demonstrating that the rent had never been mixed into daily household expenses.
The court ultimately accepted this chain of evidence, and not a single cent was taken from the post-marriage appreciation of the 8 million yuan property or the collected rent. The party's pre-marital property was fully preserved.
What is the lesson from this case? The risk of commingling premarital and post-marital property is not as "automatically isolated" as people tend to think. Property values in Shenzhen are substantial, and a few years of appreciation can equal several decades of an ordinary person's income. Without a clear chain of evidence, once the case goes to litigation, if opposing counsel attacks from any angle, it could cost millions.
When a marriage reaches a crossroads, emotional accounts are hard to settle, but property accounts must be settled clearly. Director Shen Jinlong often says, "I don't advise people to get divorced; I help those who have already decided to divorce avoid detours and unnecessary losses."
Shenzhen's real estate, savings, and equity—every single one is the result of years of hard work. The law does not favor any party, but it only looks at whether the evidence in your hands is substantial enough. If you are going through similar troubles, or are simply unsure which category your situation falls into, don't rush to delay—time is the biggest cost, and assets can be transferred faster than you think, making them harder to recover.
Address: Room 1802, Building A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen
Phone: 0755-25986969
If you have issues with divorce property division, child custody disputes, or other marriage and family matters, feel free to call 0755-25986969 and have a chat with Zhiming lawyers. Think it through in advance, and at least you won't be caught off guard.