IS IT LEGALLY VALID TO TRANSFER THE LAND USE RIGHT WITHOUT THE HUSBAND'S SIGNATURE ON THE TRANSFER C

Legal situation:

My wife and I jointly own a 100 square meter piece of land. In 2020, my wife sold this land to Mr. A for 3 billion VND. During the land transfer process, none of the documents bore my signature, however, I was aware of the sale and the proceeds were divided among our three children, with the remaining amount used to purchase a new house. I have only recently learned that the land transfer procedures require the signatures of both the husband and wife. Therefore, I would like to ask whether the sale of the land by my wife is legally valid.

FDVN’s Opinion:

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 33 of the Marriage and Family Law 2014, the land use right and attached assets are considered joint property of the spouses if:

- Property created by the husband and wife, income from labor, production, business activities, profits, interest arising from separate property, and other legal income during the marriage, except in cases where the joint property has been divided during the marriage.

- The land use right, attached assets that the husband and wife inherit together or are gifted together, and other property that the husband and wife agree to be joint property.

- The land use right, attached assets acquired by the husband and wife after marriage, except in cases where either spouse inherits individually, is gifted individually, or acquires through a transaction using separate property.

In cases where there is no evidence to prove that the land use right and attached assets that the husband and wife are disputing are the separate property of each party, it shall be considered joint property.

Furthermore, according to Clause 1, Article 29 of the Marriage and Family Law 2014, husband and wife are equal in rights and obligations in creating, possessing, using, and disposing of joint property; there is no distinction between domestic labor and income-generating labor. Accordingly, if the land use right is joint property of the husband and wife, both husband and wife have the right to possess, use, and dispose of that land use right. Therefore, when transferring that land use right to another person, the signatures of both husband and wife are required for the real estate purchase contract to be legally valid, unless there is a written authorization from the wife to the husband to carry out the transfer on her behalf.

If the property is joint property and the wife unilaterally transfers it to another person without the husband's consent, even if the red book is in the wife's name, the husband has the right to request the Court to declare the transaction void. However, it stated in the Case Law No. 04/2016/AL on the case "Dispute over the land use right transfer contract" that "In cases where the house is joint property of the husband and wife and only one person signs the contract to transfer the house to another person, the other person does not sign the contract; if there is sufficient evidence to confirm that the transferring party has received the full amount as agreed, the person who did not sign the contract knows and uses the transferred money together; the transferee has received and managed, and used the house publicly; the person who did not sign the contract knows but does not object, it must be determined that such person agrees to the transfer of the house.”

Lawyer Le Minh Huong - FDVN Law Firm