When a spouse, behind your back, uses large amounts of joint marital money to tip streamers or transfer it to someone outside the marriage: you can ask to divide joint property without divorcing, and money sent outside the marriage can be sued for return

If a spouse, without consulting you, uses joint money for large tips to streamers, you can ask a court to divide the joint property without divorcing. At divorce you can also have that side get less or nothing. Money transferred to someone outside the marriage can be sued for return from the recipient; even if they say it was spent, they still must return it. But all of this means suing; lawyer fees are yours; first instance takes several months.

Cost

You have to sue. Lawyer fees are yours; they are not among the litigation costs the losing side must bear. Ordinary first-instance procedure starts at 6 months and can be extended; summary procedure is 3 months. You also have to dig up transfer records and tipping records one by one yourself.

Benefit

The Civil Code provides that spouses have “equal disposal rights” over joint property. Where during the marriage one side hides, transfers, sells, damages, or squanders joint property, the other side may ask a court to divide joint property without divorcing first. When dividing property at divorce, the side that did so may get less or nothing. If discovered only after divorce, you can sue again for another division. Interpretation (II), in force from 1 February (2) 2025, spells out two situations. Article 6 covers tipping. Where one side, without the other’s consent, tips on a livestream platform with joint property in an amount clearly beyond ordinary household spending, that counts as “squandering.” If the other side asks for division during the marriage, or at divorce for the tipping side to get less or nothing, the court shall support it. Article 7 covers gifts outside the marriage. Where one side, for bigamy, cohabitation with another person, or another purpose that breaches the duty of fidelity, gifts joint property to someone else, and the other side asserts the gift is void, the court shall support it. Once void, the recipient must return the money. You can also on that basis ask for division during the marriage, or at divorce for the other side to get less or nothing. In a typical case released with the Supreme People’s Court’s interpretation, one side during the marriage transferred 730000 yuan over more than 4 years to a person in an improper relationship; that person transferred 170000 yuan back. The court ordered return of the 560000 yuan actually received; the claim that “part of the money had been spent” was not supported (nationwide).

Notes

The tipping rule has a threshold: without your consent, an amount clearly beyond ordinary household spending, seriously harming joint property. Occasional small tips do not qualify. Interpretation (II)’s path for tipping is dividing property and getting less; it does not say you can reclaim from the streamer or the platform. For transfers outside the marriage, what you reclaim is what the other person actually received; amounts they transferred back to your spouse are deducted. You prepare the evidence yourself: bank and payment-app records, tipping records, and chat records that show the relationship. Procedures for dividing property and divorce are in item 15 of this section (cost of leaving). Which money counts as joint property is in item 10 of this section (look first at the law’s default rules for the money account). A spouse borrowing outside is in item 12 of this section (a large sum one spouse borrows). Tipping less yourself is in Section 5, item 8 (do not tip streamers). The beneficiary is you. Conversely, if you are the recipient outside the marriage, the money received must be returned — even if spent.

Sources · 5

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