Nanjing’s lawyers have been busy of late tackling an unusual child support case. All said and done, a Nanjing grandmother is delighting in having successfully sued her former son-in-law for payment of child support he had promised but had never materialised.
Way back, in 2010, a marriage was registered in Nanjing between a man and woman, surnamed Li and Su respectively. Some 4 years later they had a son, and with the two of them working, the child’s grandmother, surnamed Fang, looked after the little boy.
During this time, her son-in-law, Li, took it on his own to issue a letter stating that he would pay his mother-in-law ¥3,000 per month for her efforts.
Sadly though, Li and Su divorced in 2019. Then late last year, the child’s grandmother took her former son-in-law to court to demand that he pay the monies promised to her earlier, reported Jiangsu TV yesterday.
Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court held that the plaintiff was not obliged to look after the baby and the letter of undertaking could be regarded as a kind of contract.
In respect to the promised amount of ¥3,000 per month, the court ordered that Li pay a total of ¥160,000 for the many months and years that had passed in the interim. Li refused to accept the judgment and made an appeal, which was rejected. The Court upheld its original judgment.
Speaking with Jiangsu TV, Tai Liying, Assistant to the Juvenile Judge at Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court, said, “In this case, the grandmother had no interest in helping to support the child, and there was no legal obligation for her to do so”.
Tai went on, “The agreement in question does not violate the mandatory provisions of the law. So it’s perfectly legal”.
The China Marriage Law is very clear on this point. Article 32 of the Law states, “At the time of divorce, … Debts incurred separately by the husband or the wife shall be paid by the party who incurred them”.
