Complicated case as widow seeks husband's assets
By Lu Feiran |
October 24, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A TANGLED court case, involving a multimillionaire killed in a car crash, his parents and the widow who had no idea of his wealth but now wants a large proportion of it, has come to Shanghai court.
Xuhui District Court has accepted the case and will soon hold a second hearing.
The widow, from Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, has taken legal action against her parents-in-law.
Her husband died in a car crash 12 days after a Wuhan court granted them a divorce. The court later changed the judgment and the couple thus remained legally married.
Wu Mei, 36, wed Chen Jun in 2004. Three days after the marriage Chen asked for a divorce, a request she refused.
Chen owned several properties and companies in Shanghai and worked and lived in the city while Wu stayed in Wuhan. Wu asked to move to Shanghai to join Chen but he was not interested in the proposal.
"I thought his behavior very odd," Wu said. "The fact that he had accumulated a fortune stunned me."
In the divorce petition, Chen said he and Wu did not have a stable relationship as they were living so far apart.
He claimed Wu registered with match-making Websites as a single woman, and went on holidays with men.
Three years later, Wuhan Hanyang District Court approved their divorce.
The first-instance judgment said Chen must pay Wu 250,000 yuan (US$36,606). Both thought this unfair, and lodged appeals.
The second instance affirmed the original judgment, in May 2007.
However, this was reversed 12 days later when Chen was killed in Sanya, in southern China's Hainan Province.
As China's law states that cases on real estate must be dealt with where the property is located, Wu challenged Chen's parents in Shanghai.
In the first hearing, she requested full ownership of five properties in Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu, valued at nearly 10 million yuan.
The parents, however, showed the Shanghai court a spousal property agreement, saying that the five properties were solely owned by Chen.
Wu said although she signed the agreement, she was shocked to see it as Chen had torn it up in front of her.
Xuhui District Court has accepted the case and will soon hold a second hearing.
The widow, from Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, has taken legal action against her parents-in-law.
Her husband died in a car crash 12 days after a Wuhan court granted them a divorce. The court later changed the judgment and the couple thus remained legally married.
Wu Mei, 36, wed Chen Jun in 2004. Three days after the marriage Chen asked for a divorce, a request she refused.
Chen owned several properties and companies in Shanghai and worked and lived in the city while Wu stayed in Wuhan. Wu asked to move to Shanghai to join Chen but he was not interested in the proposal.
"I thought his behavior very odd," Wu said. "The fact that he had accumulated a fortune stunned me."
In the divorce petition, Chen said he and Wu did not have a stable relationship as they were living so far apart.
He claimed Wu registered with match-making Websites as a single woman, and went on holidays with men.
Three years later, Wuhan Hanyang District Court approved their divorce.
The first-instance judgment said Chen must pay Wu 250,000 yuan (US$36,606). Both thought this unfair, and lodged appeals.
The second instance affirmed the original judgment, in May 2007.
However, this was reversed 12 days later when Chen was killed in Sanya, in southern China's Hainan Province.
As China's law states that cases on real estate must be dealt with where the property is located, Wu challenged Chen's parents in Shanghai.
In the first hearing, she requested full ownership of five properties in Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu, valued at nearly 10 million yuan.
The parents, however, showed the Shanghai court a spousal property agreement, saying that the five properties were solely owned by Chen.
Wu said although she signed the agreement, she was shocked to see it as Chen had torn it up in front of her.
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