In accordance with the newly revised Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women (which took effect on January 1, 2023), both the husband and the wife are obligated to declare, during their divorce proceedings, all of their jointly owned property to the people's court. As a result, the people's courts, in many regions of China (including Hunan, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Qinghai), have issued their first Community Property Declaratory Order. Legal experts believe the issuance of the order will help courts determine an equitable division of the community property (property considered to belong equally to a married couple). That, in turn, will help the parties reduce their litigation costs, and improve the courts' litigation efficiency.

On January 3, Minhang (a district in Shanghai) People's Court issued the Community Property Declaratory Order to a couple filing for divorce. The order became the first of its kind in Shanghai. The court required the couple to declare both their community (including their house, vehicles, cash and stocks) and personal property.

Yang Ting, a judge with the court, recently told media the court, in the past, generally urged divorce parties to truthfully declare their community property. However, in some cases, the parties concealed or refused to declare their community property. It often took the court a lot of effort to investigate, and the court had a difficult time imposing punishment on the parties, who had not reported or omitted to report some of their community property within the prescribed time limit.

Yang also noted, in accordance with the revised Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women and the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (which took effect on January 1, 2021), if a divorce party fails or refuses to declare the community property, the people's court (which handles their divorce case) may infer the party has concealed and/or transferred the property. Therefore, the court may decide to award less, or no, property to the party.

(Women of China English Monthly February 2023 issue)