What are the legal problems behind the love-hate relationship between mother and daughter in the online drama ＂Rock and Roll Flowers＂？

　　Recently, the popular online drama "Crazy Flowers of Rock" tells the story that Peng Lai (Yao Chen), the lead singer of a female rock band who was once a smash hit in China, went to the United States because of emotional changes, returned many years later and had constant friction with her daughter (Zhuang Duffy) during the day. After many tests, she finally realized her ideal and regained her affection.

　　A "crazy" middle-aged woman, a rebellious girl, although the relationship between mother and daughter, is more like a stranger, and the friction is escalating. However, Peng Lai and daytime persisted in their dream of rock and roll. After suffering, the mother and daughter finally joined hands.

　　The drama is a comedy on the surface, but the core is actually a tragedy. The plot with tears in laughter is the most touching. Law comes from life and has never been far away from our life. The author chooses several marriage and family legal issues that everyone is interested in from the plot to interpret.

　　Legal Aspect 1: Can the relationship between parents and children be dissolved by signing an agreement or statement?

　　[Plot] Chen Yue is the stepmother of Peng Lai’s daughter during the day. She was raised by Chen Yue at the age of six during the day, and their feelings are better than their own mother and daughter. When Chen Yue learned that she had dropped out of school during the day, she angrily ran to Peng Lai and asked him to sign an agreement to sever the relationship between mother and daughter, and promised to pay huge compensation.

　　Lawyer’s law popularization:

　　First, the relationship between parents and children can be divided into two types, the relationship between parents and children of natural blood relatives and the relationship between parents and children of fictitious blood relatives. The relationship between natural blood parents and children, which is usually called the relationship between biological parents and children, is based on the birth fact of children.

　　China’s Constitution stipulates that parents have the obligation to raise and educate minor children, and adult children have the obligation to support and assist their parents. According to the Civil Code, the relationship between parents and children is not eliminated by parents’ divorce. After divorce, children are still children of both parents, regardless of whether they are directly raised by their parents. At present, all the laws in our country have no provisions on the dissolution of legal relationship between biological parents and children. In other words, the relationship between biological parents and children can not be dissolved by parents signing a dissolution agreement with others or making a self-declaration.

　　Second, the relationship between the proposed blood parents and children can usually be artificially lifted.

　　Fictitious consanguinity refers to relatives who have no blood relationship or direct blood relationship, but are legally determined to have the same status as blood relatives. Because this kind of consanguinity is not formed naturally, but set by law, it is also called "quasi-consanguinity" or "legal consanguinity". There are two kinds of fictitious consanguinity confirmed by current laws in China:

　　1. The occurrence and termination of the relationship between adoptive parents and adopted children.

　　Legal and effective adoption behavior is the basis for the fictitious consanguinity. Once the adoption relationship is established, the adopter and the adoptee will form a relationship of rights and obligations between parents and children. According to the provisions of the Civil Code, if a child is legally adopted by others, the relationship between the rights and obligations of the adoptee and the biological parents will be eliminated due to the establishment of the adoption relationship.

　　The relationship between adoptive parents and adopted children is terminated by the dissolution of the adoption relationship. That is, after the adoption relationship is dissolved, the adopter and the proposed blood relationship with the adoptee terminate.

　　2. The occurrence and termination of the relationship between stepparents and stepchildren, which forms the fact of raising.

　　There is also a fictitious blood relationship between stepparents and stepchildren raised by them, which is formed for two reasons: one is based on the legal act of marriage between biological father (mother) and stepmother (father); Second, the fact that stepparents have raised and educated their stepchildren. Only when these two conditions are met at the same time can there be a fictitious blood relationship between stepparents and stepchildren. However, the stepparents and stepchildren who have not formed the fact of raising are only in-laws

　　If the stepparents have raised their stepchildren for a long time, the imaginary blood relationship between them will not be terminated by the disintegration of the marriage relationship between the biological father (mother) and the stepmother (father). If the relationship between stepparents and children who have lived together or raised and educated for a long time deteriorates, if both parties or one stepparent proposes to dissolve the relationship between stepparents and children in the people’s court, it may be allowed to do so. However, after the dissolution of the relationship, the stepparents who are old and weak and have difficulties in life, and the adult stepchildren should still bear the obligation of support and assistance.

　　Legal Aspect 2: What are the legal consequences of one of the co-owners selling a co-owned house without the consent of other co-owners?

　　[Plot] The house in the play belongs to Peng Lai and his daughter during the day, each with a 50% share of property rights. Peng lai proposed to sell the house for money, but he strongly disagreed during the day. Peng Lai made up her mind to sell the house, so she prepared hot pot for the day at home, got drunk during the day, and then put her handprint on the consent form for selling the house. During the day, I accidentally learned that Peng Lai had secretly sold their house, so I went to the intermediary company to make a scene and tore up the agreement to sell the house.

　　Lawyer’s law popularization:

　　1. Is the house sales contract valid in this case?

　　The newly promulgated Civil Code not only improves the original legal system, but also reconstructs and modifies many legal rules.

　　Originally, Article 51 of the Contract Law stipulates that "if a person without the right to dispose of another person’s property is ratified by the obligee or the person without the right to dispose obtains the right to dispose of it after concluding a contract, the contract is valid", while Article 597, paragraph 1 of the Civil Code stipulates that "if the ownership of the subject matter cannot be transferred because the seller has not obtained the right to dispose of it, the buyer may terminate the contract and request the seller to bear the liability for breach of contract".

　　In short, if the seller does not have the right to dispose of it, the obligee does not ratify it or the seller does not obtain the right to dispose of it after signing the contract, the signed sales contract is invalid. According to the new provisions of the Civil Code, even if the seller has no right of disposition, the sales contract signed by him is not invalid, but effective. The Civil Code has deleted the provision that "the person who has been ratified by the obligee or has no right to dispose of it has obtained the right to dispose of it after concluding a contract".

　　Specifically, in this case, Peng Lai sold the property to a third person without daytime consent, and signed a house sales contract with the third person. According to the original "Contract Law", if you agree to sell the property and approve the house sales contract signed by Peng Lai without daytime ratification afterwards, then the contract will be invalidated by the court; According to the current provisions of the Civil Code, the house sales contract signed by Peng Lai and a third party is a valid contract, regardless of whether it is agreed or ratified during the day.

　　Why is this? This involves the separation of the validity of contract and the validity of real right. A contract is valid as long as both parties sign it voluntarily and there is no legal invalidity. The real right, on the other hand, takes registration as the effective element. Without registration, there will be no change in real right. Unauthorized disposal may lead to the inability to continue or perform the contract, making it impossible for the buyer to obtain the ownership (property right) of the subject matter. However, the failure to obtain property rights (ownership) is only the performance effect after the contract is signed, not the reason why the contract is invalid. To put it simply, the performance of the contract cannot but mean that the contract is invalid. If the buyer finally fails to obtain the ownership (real right) of the property, in this case, although the property is sold without the consent of the day, the contract between Peng Lai and the third party is still binding on the buyer and the seller, and Peng Lai should bear the liability for breach of contract for not being able to transfer the property, but the house sales contract cannot be considered invalid because of the failure to transfer the property.

　　2. Assuming that the house has been delivered to the buyer without knowing it during the day, does one of the co-owners have the right to recover the house during the day?

　　When a co-owner disposes of a common property without authorization, in principle, there will be no change in property rights, unless there are legal provisions, such as the bona fide acquisition system. Acquisition in good faith refers to the system that the owner of the property who has no right to dispose of other people’s property illegally transfers the property he owns to a third person, and if the transferee obtains the property in good faith, that is, he obtains the ownership of the property according to law, and the original property owner may not ask the transferee to return the property.

　　According to the provisions of the Civil Code, the constitutive requirements of bona fide acquisition of real estate are: the transferor has no right to dispose; The transferee is in good faith; Reasonable price paid transfer; In accordance with the law, the registration of property right change has been handled. As for whether the transferee is in good faith, the presumption method is adopted in judicial practice, and the original obligee proves whether the transferee is malicious. If it cannot be proved that the transferee is malicious, the transferee is presumed to be in good faith.

　　The Civil Code stipulates that "the owner has the right to recover the immovable property or movable property transferred to the assignee by the person who has no right to dispose of it". In the case that the co-owner sells the shared house to the assignee without authorization, one of the other co-owners can exercise the right to recover during the day. If the transferee constitutes a bona fide acquisition, he can only return to Penglai during the day to compensate for the loss of half the value of the house.

　　Legal Aspect 3: Can children refuse to support their parents if they have not fulfilled their obligation to support them?

　　[Plot] Ding Huiru is Peng Lai’s mother. After divorcing her husband, she left Peng Lai alone. Later, Ding Huiru suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and entered a nursing home. Thanks to her granddaughter’s help during the day, Ding Huiru was able to live with Peng Lai. Finally, before she died, Ding Huiru finally woke up once, held Peng Lai’s hand and voluntarily repented of the past. Peng Lai forgave her mother long ago, and finally Ding Huiru died peacefully.

　　Lawyer’s law popularization:

　　First, children have the obligation to support their parents, and they cannot be exempted from the obligation to support their children because their parents have not fulfilled their obligation to support them.

　　1. Maintenance obligation is a legal obligation, which is not affected by parents’ reasons. All children have the obligation to support their parents. According to the law, parents have the obligation to support and educate their children, while children have the obligation to support and assist their parents. The former is not a prerequisite for the latter. Even if parents do not do their duty to support their children, children should do their duty to support their parents.

　　2. China’s Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly also stipulates that a supporter may not refuse to perform his maintenance obligations by giving up his inheritance rights or for other reasons.

　　Therefore, it is impossible to attach any conditions to support the elderly. Although Peng Lai’s mother did not do her duty to support Peng Lai, there was a fault, but this could not be the reason why Peng Lai did not do her duty to support him.

　　3. If the child refuses to perform the maintenance obligation, the parents who are being supported can go to court to sue if necessary. After the court conducts the trial, the child will be judged to perform the maintenance obligation according to the specific circumstances.

　　Parents who need support can mediate through relevant departments or bring a lawsuit to the people’s court. When dealing with maintenance disputes, the people’s courts should adhere to the principle of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly, and make their children fulfill their maintenance obligations according to law through mediation or judgment. Those who refuse to support because they have the obligation to support, and the circumstances constitute the crime of abandonment, shall bear criminal responsibility.

　　Second, what does the maintenance obligation include?

　　Articles 11 to 15 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly stipulate that the obligations of a supporter include: 1. Material support. The provision of living expenses is the most basic. When the dependents are sick, they should provide medical expenses and care, and properly arrange the housing for the elderly. Children or other relatives may not occupy the housing owned or leased by the elderly, and may not change the property right relationship or lease relationship without authorization.

　　2. Help in daily life. Give care and assistance to the elderly and infirm parents who have lost the ability to take care of themselves, and take good care of the sick parents.

　　3. Give spiritual comfort. Parents need the comfort of family to overcome loneliness when they enter old age.

　　Text/Zhang Lizhen

　　(Founding partner and lawyer of Beijing Anjia Law Firm)