Building a house on the husband's land: What to do to protect your rights when divorcing?

Reader D.T. B (Bac Giang) asked: "My husband and I got married in 2000. After getting married, we lived with my parents-in-law. About 1 year later, my parents-in-law gave my husband and I a piece of land of about 450m2 but only said it verbally.

After that, my husband and I spent money to build a 2-story house on the land and have lived there ever since. In 2001, my husband completed procedures to declare and issue a land use right certificate in the name of the household represented by my husband.

After living together for a while, because I only had 2 daughters, my husband wanted a divorce to marry someone else, hoping to have a son to carry on the family line. When going to court to resolve the divorce, my husband said that the land where my children and I are living belongs to my husband's family, so I am not divided. The house was built in 2001 and has deteriorated and is no longer usable, so I do not get any property.

I find my husband very unreasonable. Because the land given by my parents-in-law after we got married, the house was built by both husband and wife in 2001, is it possible that now divorced I have no rights?

Please ask the lawyer, in this case, do I have the right to request the division of property, which is house and land? What should I do to claim my rights when divorcing?

Regarding the legal issue you asked, Lawyer Duong Thu Hien - Thanh Lam Law Company Limited - advises as follows:

Clause 1, Article 27 of the Law on Marriage and Family of 2000 (corresponding to Clause 1, Article 33 of the Law on Marriage and Family of 2014, amended and supplemented in 2025) stipulates the common property of husband and wife as follows:

1. Common property of husband and wife includes property created by husband and wife, income from labor, production and business activities, and other legal income of husband and wife during the marriage period; property that husband and wife are jointly inherited or jointly gifted, and other property that husband and wife agree is common property.

The land use right that husband and wife have after marriage is common property of husband and wife. The land use right that husband or wife has before marriage, inherited separately, is only common property when husband and wife have an agreement.

Common property of husband and wife is jointly owned.

In comparison with the provisions of law, the 2-story house was built by you and your husband, so this is common property of the couple. When divorcing, if the parties cannot reach an agreement, you have the right to request the court to divide it according to the provisions of law.

In principle, common property of husband and wife is divided in half but with consideration of each party's circumstances, property status, and contributions of each party to the creation, maintenance, and development of this property. The labor of husband and wife in the family is considered as income-generating labor; Common property of husband and wife is divided in kind or by value; whichever party receives the asset in kind with a value greater than their own share, must pay the other party the difference in value.

Regarding the land area of 450m2, in Case No. 03/2016/AL approved by the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court on April 6, 2016 and announced according to Decision No. 220/QD-CA dated April 6, 2016 of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, the content is: "In case parents have given the child's spouse an area of land and the child's spouse has built a solid house on that land area to live in, when the child's spouse builds a house, the parents and other family members have no objections; the child's spouse has used the house and land continuously, publicly, stably and has carried out land declaration, and is granted a certificate of land use rights, it must be determined that the child's spouse has been given land use rights".

Thus, based on Case No. 03/2016/AL, in the case where your parents-in-law gave your husband and wife land (although only verbally), but your husband and wife built a 2-story house on land, lived there from then until now and your husband went to declare and carry out procedures for issuing a certificate in 2001. Your parents-in-law and all siblings in the family know about building the house and have no opinions, and no one has any complaints about building the house or allocating land. This shows the will of the family and parents to give your husband and wife the above-mentioned land area. From there, there is a basis to determine that this land area is common property of your husband and wife. When going to court to resolve the divorce, you have the right to request the division of common property for this land area. However, when dividing, you must consider your husband to have contributed more effort to divide according to each party's effort and it is necessary to base on the need for housing to divide the items for the parties to ensure the rights of the parties.