The bride price is usually given before marriage. The difference between betrothal gifts before marriage and after marriage is the difference in the right of ownership in the legal sense: betrothal gifts before marriage are the gifts given by the man to the woman, which belong to the woman's personal property, and betrothal gifts after marriage belong to the couple's common property.
1, before marriage is personal property
Betrothal gifts are personal property before marriage, but in this case, only when the two parties have not explicitly concluded a marriage contract and have not cohabitated can the betrothal gifts be legally judged to be personal property before marriage. If there is no clear purpose or explanation, the bride price before marriage is a gift to an individual and belongs to personal property. The bride price has not been transferred to the joint accounts of both men and women, but is owned by one family and belongs to the personal property before marriage.
2. After marriage, it is the joint property of husband and wife
The bride price given after marriage is an unconditional gift from both parents to the couple and belongs to the common property of the couple. China's "Marriage Law" stipulates that any property from any source during the survival of the husband and wife relationship belongs to the joint property of the husband and wife and is divided fairly. However, if the party giving the bride price requests a court ruling due to financial difficulties, the division of the bride price will be tilted in favor of the other party.