A Shenzhen couple divorcing after 8 years of marriage—how should two properties and 3 million yuan in savings be divided? Winning custody comes down to this evidence checklist.

The day Li Min (pseudonym) pushed open the door of Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, a torrential rain had just fallen over Shenzhen. Sitting in the reception room, she unconsciously twisted the strap of her bag with her fingers. Her first words were: "Lawyer Shen, last month my husband transferred 800,000 yuan out of the stock account. I checked the bank statements, and an extra sum of money appeared in his sister's account."
She lived in Futian, Shenzhen for 8 years, with two children, a school-district apartment in Nanshan, a wedding home in Longgang, and savings plus investments of around 3 million yuan. Her husband, Wang Qiang, runs an electronic components trading company with annual revenue exceeding 10 million. On the surface, they appear to be a typical middle-class family, but Li Min says Wang Qiang hasn't come home to sleep for six months. Last month, she discovered a girl named "Xiao Zhou" in his phone contacts, and in their chat history, he even said things like "I'll take care of you after the divorce."
Li Min wants a divorce. But she fears two things: first, how the house will be divided, and second, custody of the child.

What truly alarmed Li Min was that Wang Qiang had started moving money. The transfer of 800,000 yuan in stock funds was only the first transaction she uncovered. When she pulled the bank statements for the past year, she found that Wang Qiang had gradually transferred about 400,000 yuan to his sister under the labels of "intercompany payments" and "petty cash," along with several cash withdrawals of 200,000 and 150,000 yuan.
"If I file for divorce now, will he transfer the money from the company's accounts too?" Li Min asked.
We've seen this situation far too often. Article 1092 of the Civil Code is clear: if one spouse conceals, transfers, sells off, damages, or squanders marital property, that spouse may receive a smaller share or even nothing when the property is divided upon divorce. But the problem is, you first have to prove that he transferred the money, where it went, and how much. Many clients wait until the court hearing to obtain the bank records—too late. By then, the other side has already laundered the money through multiple transactions.
When Li Min arrived, Wang Qiang had already emptied his stock account, ostensibly to "repay a friend's loan." We immediately took two actions: first, we applied to the court for property preservation, freezing the bank accounts and company shares under Wang Qiang's name; second, we applied to the court for an investigation order to obtain the transaction records of his sister's account over the past two years. Sure enough, after that 800,000 yuan was deposited, it was then transferred in three separate payments to the account of a distant cousin of Wang Qiang's.
Li Min's biggest concern was still the house. The school-district property in Nanshan was purchased in 2018 for a total of 7.2 million yuan, with a down payment of 4.8 million. Of that, 2 million came from Li Min's parents, who sold a house in their hometown to help out. At the time, an IOU was written, but it wasn't notarized. Wang Qiang contributed 2.8 million, and they took out a loan of 2.4 million, which the couple repaid together after marriage. The wedding home in Longgang was bought by Wang Qiang before their marriage in 2015, for a total of 3.1 million, with a down payment of 1.5 million. After marriage, the couple repaid the loan together, and it's now worth around 4.8 million.
Regarding the property in Nanshan, since it was purchased during the marriage, it is in principle considered joint marital property. However, the 2 million yuan contributed by Li Min's parents—was it a loan or a gift? This directly determines how much more Li Min can receive in the division. We found the bank transfer records from Li Min's parents at the time, as well as a WeChat conversation between Li Min and Wang Qiang, in which Wang Qiang said, "We'll definitely pay back your parents' 2 million once we get back on our feet." This can prove that it was a loan relationship, not a gift.
The apartment in Longgang is a more typical case. Wang Qiang paid the down payment before marriage, and the mortgage was jointly repaid after marriage. According to the law, the house belongs to Wang Qiang, but Li Min is entitled to compensation for the portion of the joint mortgage payments made after marriage and the corresponding appreciation. We did the math: the total principal and interest repaid after marriage came to 860,000 yuan, and the house appreciated from 3.1 million to 4.8 million, an appreciation rate of about 55%. Based on this, Li Min's compensation would be roughly 600,000 yuan.
In divorce cases in Shenzhen, 70% involve property division, with the average disputed amount ranging from 3 million to 8 million RMB. Where the money for the house came from, who paid the down payment, whether there was an IOU, and whose salary was used to repay the mortgage—these details directly determine how much each party gets. It's not as simple as a blanket "split it fifty-fifty."
Li Min wants custody of their two children. Wang Qiang, on his side, has made it clear: "My company has an annual revenue of over ten million. You're a full-time housewife—what do you have to support the kids with?"
That statement stings, but the judge won't look only at income. We've reviewed Li Min's evidence: from the children's birth to now, vaccination records, parent group chats, school pickup logs, and parent-teacher meeting sign-in sheets all bear Li Min's name. Wang Qiang has come home no more than 10 times in the past six months, backed by the community property's entry-exit records and surveillance footage. Li Min's parents own a home in Shenzhen and are willing to help with childcare. And although Li Min is currently unemployed, she holds a CPA certificate and previously worked as a project manager at an accounting firm, earning over 300,000 a year—she only resigned temporarily after having her second child.
Article 1084 of the Civil Code stipulates that after divorce, children under the age of two shall, in principle, be directly raised by the mother. Li Min's two children, aged 8 and 4, do not fall under this principle. However, the 4-year-old has long been cared for by the mother, and for the 8-year-old, the court will seek the child's own wishes. We have applied for the children's homeroom teacher to testify in court, to prove that the children's daily life and education have been managed by Li Min.
The court's final ruling: both children are to be raised by Li Min, with Wang Qiang paying monthly child support of 6,000 yuan per child until they reach the age of 18. It's worth noting that in recent rulings by the Shenzhen Intermediate Court, the proportion of cases where both children are awarded to one parent is not high, especially when the other party has significantly better financial conditions. However, Li Min won on the two key points of "daily care" and "emotional dependence."
Speaking of premarital property, it reminds me of another case. Ms. Zhang was the founder of a tech company in Longhua, Shenzhen. Before marriage, she owned a property in Futian and an office building, with a total estimated value of around 8 million yuan. After they got married, her husband's business failed and he accumulated significant debts. Creditors came knocking, seeking to enforce the properties under her name.
When Ms. Zhang came to us, she was extremely anxious. We helped her with two things: first, we sorted out the purchase dates, payment vouchers, and deed tax invoices for the properties to prove that all of them were purchased before marriage and that the loans had been fully settled; second, based on Article 1063 of the Civil Code, we clarified that pre-marital property belongs to the individual property of one spouse and does not convert into community property of the spouses merely due to the continuation of the marriage. The court ultimately rejected the creditor's application to enforce the execution against Ms. Zhang's properties, and her 8 million yuan in pre-marital assets remained completely intact.
This case can only succeed if we have one thing at its core: evidence. The bank statements for premarital property, the purchase contract, and the timeline of the property ownership certificate—none of these can be missing. Many clients wait until they are sued to look for evidence, but by then the bank can no longer retrieve the transaction records from those years.
Look at three things: First, see whether he has handled cases similar to yours. Knowing legal provisions by heart is useless—he needs to have actually been in court. Second, see whether he is willing to take the time to listen to you explain the whole situation. In divorce cases, the worst thing is a lawyer who goes through the motions and misses key details. Third, see how sensitive he is to clues about property—for example, which account your money was transferred out of, or whether a third party was involved. These all require experience to investigate. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has been in Shenzhen for 26 years, and the cases its marriage and family team has handled range from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions in value. Director Shen Jinlong himself is a lawyer with 26 years of practice, having transitioned from a senior executive at a state-owned enterprise. He is especially experienced with complex situations involving company equity and hidden shareholding in marital joint property.
Li Min's case took seven months from filing to judgment. In the end, she received a 60% share of the school-district apartment in Nanshan, compensation for the property in Longgang, 650,000 yuan recovered from the 800,000 yuan that Wang Qiang had transferred away, and custody of the two children.
But what I want to say is, she won on two points: first, the moment she discovered the other party was transferring assets, she immediately applied for a preservation order, leaving him no chance to move more money; second, her habit of keeping evidence in daily life—she saved every transfer record, every WeChat screenshot after each argument, and every photocopy of the children's vaccination records. In court, these things are far more useful than any tearful plea.
If you're also in Shenzhen and going through a similar marital crisis, don't wait until your partner has transferred all the money away before thinking of consulting a lawyer. Come visit Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm. The address is Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen. Phone: 0755-25986969. When it comes to divorce, at the end of the day, it's all about money and children. The sooner you figure things out, the fewer detours you'll take.