Not a single word ntioned money, yet every sentence revolved around it.
Little did they know that decades ago, getting married didn’t require a house, a car, nor an exorbitantly high bride price. The parents from both sides would prepare engagent gifts and a dowry, which were basically furniture and clothing. But now, getting married either consud half of the parents’ lifeti savings or burdened the young couple with various loans, exhausting them completely. This had also led to more and more people preferring to stay single. One person fed ant the whole family wasn’t hungry.
"Is that even possible?"
Upon hearing Qin Mu’s advice, Wan Zhongyuan was suddenly perplexed. He had transferred the agreed-upon bride price. Could it really be determined not to be bride price money?
"Of course. Generally, for a paynt to be recognized as a bride price, it must et four conditions: local customs, a significant sum, the identities of the paying and receiving parties, and the timing of the paynt," Qin Mu nodded and explained briefly.
Local customs referred to the existence of the bride price custom in the area. And in so regions, there actually wasn’t a custom of providing a bride price. Instead, when their daughters married, the bride’s family would provide a substantial dowry, either a car or a house. The amount of the bride price also had specific requirents, generally over thirty thousand yuan. A few thousand yuan wouldn’t be classified as a bride price. The paying and receiving parties must also be the families negotiating the marriage. Finally, there’s the timing of the paynt, which must occur before the marriage certificate is obtained.
"Your marriage registration actually occurred before the bride price was paid. You can use this as grounds to file a lawsuit, seeking to have the 1.08 million declared unjust enrichnt and demanding its return from the other party. If the other side doesn’t return it, you can sue them for embezzlent."
Qin Mu then briefly explained what constitutes embezzlent and the corresponding penalties.
"Can it really be done like this?!" Wan Zhongyuan couldn’t help but get excited after hearing this plan.
He had almost given up, thinking of it only as a desperate gamble, but Qin Mu had pointed out a path he’d never conceived of.
"This is just the first plan. If this doesn’t work, there’s a second one," Qin Mu smiled.
He then outlined the second plan: "Since the other party has already disappeared, this case likely also involves marriage fraud."
Legally, the definition of marriage fraud was sowhat vague. As the saying goes, even an honest official struggles to settle family disputes. Marriage fraud involved emotional entanglents between n and won. However, in this instance, the other party obtaining the marriage certificate and then vanishing was far too abnormal. From a legal standpoint, if the perpetrator, after receiving money, disappeared citing other reasons—for instance, threatening not to et unless the bride price was paid—this already suggested fraudulent intent to illegally possess property.
"From this perspective, you can sue the other party for fraud. If the amount involved is substantial, the sentence can be more than ten years in prison."
Wan Zhongyuan swallowed hard. After hearing the second plan, he was sowhat stunned. In such a short ti, Qin Mu had transford a civil dispute over a bride price into a criminal case, with a potential sentence escalating to over ten years!
"Impossible!" Wan Feizhang imdiately retorted, "Lele would never deceive ! We love each other. She ssaged saying her parents were keeping her at ho and that we could et as soon as the bride price was paid..."
SMACK!
Wan Zhongyuan, his face dark, smacked him hard on the back of the head, giving him a taste of tough fatherly love. After the smack, Wan Zhongyuan said in exasperation, "It’s co to this, and you’re still speaking up for her!"
Seeing this, Qin Mu quietly reminded him, "If she is indeed being confined at ho by her parents, that could also involve the cri of false imprisonnt."
False imprisonnt refers to the act of illegally depriving soone of their personal liberty through detention, confinent, or other coercive thods. Such an act unlawfully deprives a person of their freedom of movent. No adult should be illegally deprived of this right by others. Of course, a child, lacking full legal capacity, still requires a guardian, who can manage this right on their behalf.
"So it can be done this way..." Wan Zhongyuan had an epiphany and quickly understood the counterasures.
The approach Qin Mu provided was different from the standard way of handling civil disputes. If they followed the normal civil dispute process, recovering the entire bride price would be nearly impossible. They would have to sue for divorce first. And after the divorce, this bride price would very likely be treated as joint marital property and be divided, or they might only recover a portion of it. After all, he gave the bride price after they obtained their marriage certificate—that is, after the marital relationship was legally established. This made the dispute difficult to clarify. But if they used criminal charges as a breakthrough, once it was determined that the other party had committed a cri, the bride price could undoubtedly be recovered!
"I’ll transfer the consultation fee to you via a red packet."
Wan Zhongyuan then pulled out his phone and transferred the consultation fee. For this consultation, Qin Mu had provided two plans. He’d heard that lawyers detested the "just asking a quick question" approach, and now he was dealing with Qin Mu himself...
Qin Mu didn’t feign refusal and accepted it directly.
After experiencing so much, he was actually sowhat inclined to get a lawyer’s license. Having one would be very convenient for handling lawsuits.
"’I should find so ti to ask Wang Dachui how to get a lawyer’s license,’ Qin Mu muttered to himself as he walked out of the Vice Dean’s office.
「In the days that followed.」
Life at the nursing ho returned to its usual calm.
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