Professional profile
About Chen
Partner | Divorce and family, family wealth planning, financial disputes
Chen Chanjuan is a partner in DeHeng Law Offices’ Wenzhou office whose practice includes marriage and family disputes, private-client work and family wealth planning. Her professional profile includes experience in a divorce involving assets exceeding RMB 100 million, a foreign-related child-custody matter and recovery of property transferred to a third party. Those matters reflect a practice well suited to high-value divorce in Wenzhou, where family wealth may be held through operating companies, real estate, investment accounts, insurance and intergenerational transfers rather than a single pool of liquid cash.
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High-net-worth divorce requires disciplined asset classification before valuation begins. A spouse may control a private company, but company assets are not the same as the spouse’s personal property. The marital interest may lie in shares, shareholder loans, dividends or other personal rights. Chen’s experience with complex family wealth matters is relevant to identifying those interests and separating them from assets that belong to the company, other shareholders or family members.
Her work is also suited to cases involving transfers to third parties. Current Supreme People’s Court guidance addresses certain transfers of marital property, including conduct connected with breaches of marital fidelity. In practice, however, the lawyer still needs transaction-level proof. Bank records, messages, ownership documents and evidence of consideration can distinguish an impermissible gift from a genuine investment, repayment or business payment.
Company valuation presents another challenge. A founder’s shares may be valuable but illiquid, restricted by shareholder agreements or exposed to company debt and personal guarantees. The valuation expert needs accurate information about control rights, financing, related-party transactions and founder dependence. A family lawyer who understands the legal rights attached to the shares can help ensure that the expert values the correct interest.
Chen’s private-client and family-wealth work is particularly relevant to intergenerational transfers. Parents may have funded property purchases, transferred shares or made gifts without detailed documentation. Inherited assets may later be reorganized into new structures or mixed with marital contributions. The lawyer needs to reconstruct these histories from contemporaneous evidence rather than rely solely on labels such as “family money” or “inheritance.”
High-value cases also require proportionate preservation. A spouse who genuinely fears dissipation may need focused court measures, but overbroad freezing of business assets can damage an operating company and reduce the wealth available for division. The legal strategy should identify which property is personally owned, which is at real risk and what security is necessary to preserve the claim.
Liquidity becomes central when one spouse retains the business. A large equalization payment may be fair in theory but impossible to fund immediately. Settlement can use staged payments, secured obligations, allocations of real estate or investments, and acceleration if the company later completes a financing or sale. These structures require precise drafting because post-divorce enforcement can otherwise become a second major dispute.
Foreign or offshore holdings add another layer. Local advice may be required for recognition, title transfer or account access outside mainland China. A PRC settlement can allocate economic rights and cooperation duties, but counsel should test how those obligations will be implemented in the jurisdiction where the asset is located.
Chen’s practice is therefore especially relevant to clients facing high-value divorce involving company equity, third-party transfers, family wealth and cross-border elements. Her experience reflects the central challenge of sophisticated family work: translating a complex ownership structure into a legally supportable and practically enforceable division without confusing company assets, family expectations and personal marital property.
Wenzhou private wealth often combines business ownership with family property accumulated over many years. The legal team may therefore need to review not only current balances but restructurings, share transfers, capital increases and property purchases that pre-date the marital dispute. A later holding company or family partnership may reflect legitimate succession planning rather than concealment. At the same time, restructuring after separation can affect valuation or enforcement. Chen’s high-value family work is particularly suited to identifying the point at which ordinary wealth planning becomes relevant to the divorce asset pool and to determining what evidence is needed before alleging dissipation.
Her foreign-related custody experience adds another dimension to high-net-worth family work. Wealthy families may have children studying abroad, overseas residences or parents whose travel schedules affect care. Property and parenting issues should remain analytically separate even when the same international lifestyle connects them. A well-managed case can coordinate foreign asset implementation and child arrangements without allowing the complexity of one to overwhelm the other. That is particularly important where the family seeks a negotiated resolution that must operate across several jurisdictions.
Her work is particularly well suited to clients who want a private, commercially realistic resolution but still require strong litigation preparation. Detailed tracing and valuation can improve settlement precisely because the parties understand the likely range of outcomes if negotiation fails.
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