The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Is it in writing and voluntary?

Pressure and oral deals fail.

Form
02

Does it only try to move property?

Children clauses are fragile.

Scope
03

Will a PRC court be the forum?

Foreign forms still need PRC characterisation.

Forum
04

Should it be notarised?

Proof, banks, housing bureaus.

Notary

Working rule: Spouses-to-be may agree in writing that pre-marital and marital property stays separate, community, or some mix.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
US template
Pasted California prenup.
Wrong statute.
Hidden from one side
Signed at the wedding banquet.
Voluntariness risk.
Broader Divorce & Family analysis needed
Rewriting the cross-border prenup article.
Additional facts can change the Divorce & Family route, evidence and next step.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Draft in ChineseThe version that will be shown to a bureau or court.
02Asset listWhat is being kept separate.
03Notary appointmentIf used.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Must a prenup be notarised?

The Civil Code emphasises written agreement. Notary is strongly used in practice for housing and proof.

Where is the long cross-border piece?

This page is the PRC definition.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

PRC Civil Code (NPC laws database)
Supreme People’s Court
Gov.cn
National laws database (NPC)