(SCMP) - A wife sued her husband during a divorce after discovering the man had a second family for 12 years and had financially supported that family.
The court in Zhejiang province in eastern China awarded the woman full ownership of four flats that had previously been under joint ownership, according to City Express.
The woman, Wang Xia, realised her husband, Chen Kai, had an extramarital affair when a group of debt collectors visited their home asking for her husband.
Chen had set up a successful company from scratch 30 years ago but had transferred 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) to his brother and father to hide that the money was meant to support his other family.
After the affair was exposed, Chen cajoled his wife, knelt on his knees to beg for her forgiveness, and vowed to be loyal in the future, all to convince her not to divorce him.
Wang decided to stay with her husband because she believed it would be better for their son, who was in secondary school.
However, a year later, the son said he supported the divorce, so Wang filed for the separation.
After filing the lawsuit, Wang, a housewife who did not know the details of Chen’s business or financial holdings, asked the court to investigate his assets, which is when they found the 10 million yuan he transferred to his father and brother.
Therefore, the court decided that the wife was not at fault for the divorce and awarded her the four flats as damages. Wang is also trying to claw back ownership of the properties that her husband bought for his other family, but no verdict has been made.
Ugly divorce battles often make headlines in mainland China.
A controversial case made headlines in December when a man was granted temporary access to his ex-wife’s Douyin account after he paid her 200,000 yuan (US$28,000) even though they had been divorced for three years.
By Alice Yan
December 31, 2023
