CHINA COURT ANNULS MARRIAGE AS WIFE CONCEALS MENTAL ILLNESS, UTERUS-REMOVAL SURGERY

When a marriage is annulled by a mainland court, the marital status reverts to 'single' as though the marriage never occurred

A court in China has annulled a marriage at the request of a man who discovered that his wife had concealed her mental health history and her hysterectomy record before their marriage.

The case was heard by the Jiaxian County People's Court in central China's Henan province last month, as reported by Star Video.

According to the verdict, the man, identified by the surname Zhou, met a woman seven years his senior through a matchmaker in September last year.

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He paid her a bride price of 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) on October 8 when they became engaged. On October 30, he gave her an additional 40,000 yuan, and the couple registered their marriage with the civil affairs authority on the same day.

They held a wedding ceremony in November. However, Zhou soon noticed that his wife's mental state appeared to be abnormal.

He later discovered that she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia before their marriage. He was also taken aback to learn that she and her family had concealed the fact that she had undergone a hysterectomy.

Zhou subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking to annul the marriage due to her concealment of significant health issues. The woman did not contest his request.

The court ruled in favour of Zhou, stating that individuals have a responsibility to disclose their true physical condition, particularly when it involves major health concerns, before entering into marriage.

It remains unclear whether the 50,000 yuan bride price was returned to Zhou.

Unlike divorce proceedings, when a marriage is annulled by a court, the individual's marital status in the government's resident registration system reverts to "single" rather than being marked as "divorced".

Zhou's experience has ignited a heated discussion on social media.

One observer noted: "They married after knowing each other for less than two months. It's clear that the man was looking for a reproductive partner but ended up marrying a woman without a womb. What a poor man!"

Another commenter remarked: "Isn't the woman guilty of deception? Why hasn't she faced any consequences?"

Cases where one spouse conceals significant health issues from the other are not uncommon in mainland China.

Last month, a court in Sichuan, southwestern China, granted a woman's request to annul her marriage after her husband failed to disclose that he had HIV.

They had married the previous year without undergoing a premarital examination, as the woman believed they had known each other for years. The man's health issue only came to her attention nine months after their marriage when she unexpectedly found Aids treatment drugs in his bag. Fortunately, the woman has not contracted HIV.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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2024-11-22T10:21:10Z