In Shenzhen, divorce cases involving property disputes account for 70%. When it comes to that 8 million from before marriage and child custody, a lawyer tells you which card to play first.

When Mr. Li from Futian came to us last month, he was clutching photocopies of three property deeds and a marriage certificate that had been torn in half. He and his wife had been married for 11 years. They owned one apartment each in Futian and Nanshan, another small property-rights apartment in Longhua, and had savings and investments totaling just over 6 million yuan. His wife had already moved out with their child two months earlier, and the divorce agreement she sent stated: split the properties equally, the child goes to her, and child support is calculated at 30% of Mr. Li's monthly income. The first thing Mr. Li asked was: "The down payment on my Nanshan apartment before marriage was paid by my mother. Does that have to be divided too?"
This scene plays out almost every week in the reception room of Zhiming Law Firm's marriage and family team. In Shenzhen divorce cases, 70% involve property division, with disputed amounts typically ranging from 3 million to 8 million yuan. The numbers look cold and impersonal, but for each individual, they represent the hard-earned savings of half a lifetime.

This issue needs to be examined in three scenarios. First, if one party bought the house with full payment before marriage and it is registered under their own name, it is considered personal property and is not subject to division in a divorce. Second, if a down payment was made before marriage and the mortgage was paid jointly after marriage, the house belongs to the party under whose name it is registered, but the other party must be compensated for the post-marriage mortgage payments and the corresponding appreciation. Third, if the house was purchased after marriage, it is in principle community property of the couple regardless of whose name is on the deed.
Mr. Li's apartment in Nanshan is a typical example of the second type. He made a down payment of 2.8 million yuan before marriage, and after marriage the couple jointly repaid 900,000 yuan of the mortgage. The apartment's market value has now risen to 11 million yuan. Under Articles 1062 and 1087 of the Civil Code, his wife has the right to claim compensation for the 900,000 yuan in joint mortgage repayments and the corresponding appreciation. Calculated roughly, that is 900,000 yuan divided by the total purchase price, then multiplied by the current market value, which comes to about 1.3 million yuan. However, as for the 2.8 million yuan down payment made by Mr. Li's mother, if there are transfer records and written documentation, it can be asserted as a personal gift to Mr. Li and not included in the scope of division.
The key here is one word: proof. Transfer records, chat logs, written agreements from the time, even a handwritten IOU—all carry far more weight than simply claiming, "It was my mom's money."
There is a hard-and-fast legal rule: Article 1084 of the Civil Code stipulates that children under two years of age shall, in principle, live with their mother. This is a rule of principle—unless the mother has a severe illness, drug addiction, has abandoned the child, or other extreme circumstances, custody of a child under two is basically awarded to the mother.
Between the ages of 2 and 8, courts apply the "best interests of the minor child" principle. Put simply, who has been more involved in raising the child, who has more stable finances, who can offer better educational resources, and who the child currently lives with are all factors considered. Once the child is over 8, the court will directly ask for the child's preference, and whoever the child says they want to live with carries very significant weight.
Last year, we handled a case where the husband was a mid-level manager at a company in Nanshan Science Park, earning about 1.2 million yuan a year, and the wife was a full-time mother who hadn't worked in the eight years since they married. The husband thought his high income guaranteed him custody. But we helped the wife organize three things: first, the child's vaccination records from birth to now, parent-teacher meeting sign-in sheets, and receipts for extracurricular class payments, all of which the wife had handled; second, although the wife didn't work, she owned a small apartment in Luohu that she rented out, bringing in 8,000 yuan a month in rental income; third, the child wrote a statement of preference, saying they wanted to live with their mother. In the end, the court awarded custody to the wife, and the husband pays child support on a monthly basis.
A high income is an advantage, but it is not the decisive factor. What the court cares about more is who can continue to provide the child with stable living conditions and emotional support after the divorce.
There's still time, but the sooner the better. The most reliable way is a prenuptial agreement, signed by both parties to confirm which assets are premarital personal property and how they'll be handled after marriage. You can get this done at a notary office in Shenzhen, and the cost is only a few hundred yuan. If you're already married, you can also make arrangements through a marital property agreement.
But the reality is, many people feel that talking about money hurts relationships and just can't bring themselves to do it. So as a fallback, keep a solid chain of evidence. For example, keep premarital savings in a separate bank account and don't mix them with postmarital income; set up a separate repayment account for premarital property and use premarital savings to repay the loan; when parents give money, note "gift to child individually" in the transfer or write a simple gift agreement.
Last year, the matrimonial and family law team at Zhiming Law Firm handled a high-net-worth divorce case. Our client was an early employee of a tech company in Shenzhen, holding company stock options and two properties in Nanshan, with premarital assets totaling about 8 million yuan. The opposing party hired a lawyer and demanded a division of assets. Using a complete set of evidence including bank statements, stock option grant agreements, and premarital home purchase contracts, we successfully helped our client preserve the 8 million yuan in premarital assets and also secured custody of the child. The case took less than five months from filing to judgment.
To be honest, there are quite a few lawyers in Shenzhen doing marriage and family law, but the quality varies greatly. When choosing a lawyer, don't just look at the size of the firm—look at three things: first, whether they have handled cases with a similar amount in dispute; second, whether they can translate legal provisions into a plan you can understand; and third, whether they are willing to help you sort out evidence before litigation.
Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has been rooted in Shenzhen for 26 years, handling over 10,000 cases cumulatively. Its director, Lawyer Shen Jinlong, holds a master's degree from Fudan University and is a senior economist. He once served as a senior executive in a state-owned enterprise, giving him a more down-to-earth understanding of asset structures than lawyers with purely legal backgrounds. Zhiming's original "Zhiming Art Litigation Method" system has won dual innovation awards from the provincial and municipal lawyers associations. In marital and family cases, this method has helped many clients obtain better outcomes during the mediation stage than they would have through a judgment.
If you're going through something similar, you can call and talk it over first. The address is Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North 2nd Street, Futian District, Shenzhen, and the phone number is 0755-25986969. For many things, asking one question in advance saves far more trouble than fighting over them for three years afterward.