On April 7, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued the Interpretation on the Application of the Book on Marriage and Family of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (II) (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft") to solicit public opinions by April 30, 2024. 

The Draft aims to clarify 20 hot topics, including the inapplicability of validity correction for bigamy in principle, the handling of "fake divorce" claims by parties, the handling of cohabitation property division disputes, and the handling of marriage-based house gift. Notably, regarding the handling of marriage-based house gift, the Draft specifies that, prior to or during the marriage, if one party changes the registration of a house solely owned by him or her and registers such house under the name of the other party or both parties, and then the original owner requests the return of the house in a divorce lawsuit, the court shall, based on the party's request and the purpose of the house gift, comprehensively consider such facts as the duration of marriage, fault in divorce, and financial conditions of both parties, rule that the ownership of the house should be granted to one party, and order the party obtaining the house to pay appropriate compensation to the other party with reference to the market price of the house, unless otherwise agreed by both parties.

(Source: Supreme People's Court)