Expansive Interpretation of Marital Gift Agreements and the Limits of Right of Revocation

Marital gift agreements (MGA) possess dual legal attributes of identity and property. However, MGA in practice often faces challenges in distinguishing them from marital property agreements(MPA) and determining the application of the arbitrary right of revocation. When the parties do not explicitly indicate whether the agreement is as a marital gift or about a marital property, an expansive interpretation of the MGA can be applied to include MPA with ambiguous intentions made by the parties. Once MGA is identified, the gifting rules in the Contract section of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of Chinacan be applied. Thus, the gifts can be categorized based on the different purposes of the gifts into those made for purely emotional reasons and those made out of moral obligations. By objectively incorporating the ethical characteristics of moral obligations, restrictions on the application of the arbitrary right of revocation are formed. Furthermore, both spouses should be allowed to claim the partial right of revocation of the marital gift. The donor’s statutory right of revocation should be exercised to achieve a balance of interests between spouses as well. As a result, the dispute resolution mechanism of marital gifts can be optimized.