A SHENZHEN couple, who jointly run an online shop on Taobao.com, had a dispute about how to split up their property when they filed for a divorce, according to sznews.com.

    The wife, surnamed Chen, said that she and her husband, surnamed Zhang, had been jointly operating three online shops that earned between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan (US$1,450-2,900) per month. Chen said that she had quit her job to take care of her child and the online shops at home after she and Zhang married. Zhang would pay living cost to her from time to time since the payments from online buyers went directly to Zhang’s bank account.

    However, Zhang said that they had only been operating one online shop. He said that the second shop was owned by another person, adding that they had registered a third shop, but it wasn’t yet operating as a real business.

    Chen said that their joint property was valued at around 400,000 yuan, including 80,000 yuan in savings, 100,000 yuan in inventory and the online shop’s value of 200,000 yuan. Chen requested to take 80 percent of their joint property when they filed for divorce at Bao’an District People’s Court.

    Following the court’s conciliation, Chen agreed to give up her request after she was granted custody of her child and 50 percent of their mutual savings, and the court also ordered Zhang to pay alimony and mental damage compensation to Chen.

    Statistics from the legal search engine jufaanli.com showed that there had been only a few divorce disputes involving online shops nationwide before 2013, but the number has stood between 120 and 150 cases per year since 2014. Most of the cases were filed in Zhejiang Province, followed by Shanghai and Shandong, while Guangdong Province ranked sixth.

    According to Taobao.com, an online shop can be transferred to the owner’s spouse after a divorce or passed to an immediate family member as an inheritance.

    The database of jufaanli.com showed that there were a total of 1,192 divorce disputes involving Alipay deposits, and the number had soared from 142 cases in 2014 to 610 cases last year. Transfer records and savings in Alipay have become admissible evidence to define joint property between divorcing couples in such cases. (Zhang Yang)