The couple was very unhappy about the issue of whether to add the husband’s name to the dowry house. Communication was not smooth, and their relatives and friends got involved, which intensified the conflict between them. What else could the couple not discuss properly? After all, they have children now; is it really that important whether or not to add a name to a house?
The couple developed misunderstandings over the dowry house, and their hearts drifted further apart! The wife graduated from junior high school and started working to earn money in her teens, only getting married at thirty. Before marriage, she bought a commercial apartment in her hometown county, which was unfurnished. At the wedding, her mother handed the key to the security door to the son-in-law in front of everyone, saying, “Today my daughter gets married; this house was bought with the money she earned over the years from working. I hand over the key to you. This house is now yours, and I entrust my daughter to you. I hope you will have a good life together!”
Everyone thought the couple was a match made in heaven and had high hopes for their marriage. After all, the husband was four or five years older than the wife, and people in that age group should settle down and enjoy life! At first, marriage was fine; a year into it, they still had no children, and both families were anxious to have a grandchild.
Since the dowry house was unfurnished, they continued to live at the wife’s family home. As the child reached kindergarten age, the property rights for the dowry house needed to be established. The wife wanted to register it in her name only, but since they were married, her husband had to sign a waiver for her to write the house in her name. Otherwise, it had to be registered in both their names as community property acquired during the marriage.
The wife came back to discuss this with her husband, hoping he would sign the waiver. She argued that the house was her premarital property and did not belong to their community property. However, the husband stubbornly refused to sign, bitterly saying, “When we got married, you said this house was a dowry for me. Now, when it’s time to register, you won’t put my name on it and want me to sign a waiver. This is still your premarital property; how does that concern me?”
Both in-laws were unhappy and angrily said, “Your family is really calculating; when you married, it was said this was a dowry house. We celebrated for so long, proudly telling relatives and friends in the village we got a great daughter-in-law who brought us a commercial house in the county, making the villagers and relatives envious. Now we find out this was your scheme; it sounds nice, but you won’t even add our son’s name.”
The couple argued about whether to add a name to the house for over half a month, involving both sides’ relatives. The husband’s relatives sided with him, believing his name should be added. They insisted that since it was a dowry, it belonged to them as community property acquired during the marriage. Otherwise, it could be stated clearly that this house is the wife’s premarital property, which is obviously unfair!
On the other hand, the wife’s relatives thought the husband’s family was unreasonable. Why must the dowry house have the husband’s name added? As long as they don’t divorce, the husband will always have a place to live; if they do divorce, the house would certainly be considered the wife’s premarital property. Was the husband’s insistence on adding his name an indication he was already contemplating divorce? After over half a month of disputes, it was finally settled with the husband signing a waiver, and the property rights certificate recorded only the wife’s name.
The couple also became more estranged due to this issue, with the involvement of relatives and friends making things worse. They no longer wanted to talk to each other or communicate well. For the sake of their child, they were forced to live together, but although they shared the same roof, they hardly spoke a few words each day…
Image from the internet
