In a case involving reader Hoai, 30, who sought legal advice during her divorce and refused to divide 10 taels of wedding gold with her husband, claiming it as her separate property, 87% of VnExpress readers (3,472 out of 4,000 votes) surveyed believe the court might deem it common property.

Commenting on the situation, Master of Laws, lawyer Dang Thi Thuy Huyen of HPL Law Firm, stated that Hoai's perspective is "partially reasonable" but lacks sufficient grounds to be fully convincing.

Lawyer Huyen explained that the legal establishment of a marital relationship occurs at the time of marriage registration, not the wedding ceremony. According to Clause 1, Article 9 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family, a spousal relationship is legally recognized only from the moment a man and woman register their marriage at a competent state agency.

The couple's wedding ceremony, if held prior, holds only customary significance and does not establish legal spousal rights or obligations. Hoai and her husband held their wedding in 3/2020 but registered their marriage three months later. Therefore, at the time the two families presented the 10 taels of gold during the wedding, legally, they were not yet husband and wife.

Regarding the principles for defining separate and common property, Article 43 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family stipulates that a spouse's separate property includes: "Assets owned by each person before marriage; assets inherited separately, or gifted separately during marriage;...". Thus, in principle, if an individual establishes ownership of an asset before marriage registration, that asset is considered their separate property, unless there is evidence proving the gift was intended for both spouses.

For disputed assets like wedding gold, current law does not automatically consider it common property of both spouses. In judicial practice, courts comprehensively examine the circumstances of the gift to clarify the donor's true intent, based on evidence such as: direct statements made at the time the gold was given; the intended recipient (whether specifically for the bride or for both individuals); the manner in which the gold was given; the context of the gift; testimonies from those who directly gave the gold; and images or videos documenting the wedding ceremony.

This approach is consistent with judicial practice, as demonstrated in first-instance marital and family judgment No. 07/2022, issued on 9/3/2022, by the People's Court of Long My Town, Hau Giang province. In that case, the court relied on a synthesis of details regarding statements, methods, and the context of the gift to determine the gold donor's intent, forming the basis for distinguishing between common and separate property when resolving the divorce.

In Hoai's case, her husband argued that the gold given during the wedding was a celebratory gift for both spouses and provided wedding photos, videos, and testimonies from relatives to support his argument. Conversely, Hoai asserted that when the gold was given, both families clearly indicated it was a gift specifically for the bride.

Therefore, the essence of the dispute does not lie in whether the asset was acquired before or after marriage registration, but in the core question of whether the gold was given solely to Hoai or to both individuals.

If the court determines that the donors intended to gift the gold solely to Hoai, then this gold will be classified as her separate property and will not be subject to division during divorce. Conversely, if the court finds evidence that the gold was given as a joint gift to establish assets for the couple's marital life, then even if the gift occurred before marriage registration, this gold will still be considered common property and subject to division when resolving the divorce.

Therefore, in this scenario, if Hoai cannot prove the intent of both families to gift the gold solely to her, her argument that "since marriage was not registered, the gold is automatically separate property" will not be convincing. It is highly probable that the court will classify the wedding gold as common property for division during the divorce proceedings.

Binh Nguyen