Insights

How to divide the income from media accounts and live broadcasts when Ningbo divorces

Ningbo Author：LuXu WANG

There are more and more couples carrying goods and making short videos in Ningbo live broadcast, and they can't get around when they divorce: are the tremolo numbers of hundreds of thousands of fans common property? Can the rewards and commissions received by the live broadcast be divided? Can one side get back the money for the anchorwoman? First, let's give a conclusion: First, the property rights and interests of self-media accounts registered and operated within marriage that can be continuously realized belong to the common property of husband and wife, and the court generally treats them according to the principle of "the account number belongs to the operator and the other party is compensated at a discount"; Second, the reward for live broadcast within marriage, the commission for bringing goods and the advertising income belong to labor remuneration and operating income, which should be included in divorce, and the balance cannot be divided, if one party rewards others with a large amount of common property without consent, it may be determined to be "profligate" in accordance with Article 6 of the (II) of the Supreme People's Court on the Interpretation of the Marriage and Family Code of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of the People's Republic of China, and may claim less or even no division of it in the event of divorce. Neither the real-name registration rules nor the transfer-of-ownership rules change the nature of the property; what can change is only “the manner of division.”

1. Is an account property? From "virtual account" to "realizable asset"

There are two legal bases: Article 127 of the Civil Code stipulates that “where the law provides for the protection of data and virtual property on the internet, such provisions shall apply”; and Article 1062 lists wages, bonuses, remuneration for services, and income from production and business operations as marital common property. An account is a composite entity comprising “platform data” and “user contributions”: User agreements on platforms such as Douyin generally stipulate that account ownership belongs to the platform and that accounts are for personal, real-name use only—specifically, the Douyin User Service Agreement prohibits the gifting, borrowing, leasing, transfer, or sale of accounts. Therefore, what can be divided in a divorce is not “ownership of the account” itself, but rather the property‑related rights and interests embodied by the account: the monetization potential derived from its follower base—such as advertising revenue, traffic, e‑commerce sales, and tipping—as well as any accrued but unsettled earnings. There are still divergences in judicial interpretations to this day:

  1. Early conservative stance: Some courts hold that social media accounts are highly personal in nature, platform transfer restrictions apply, and their value is unstable, thus only dividing the confirmed earnings. A review by Caijing of more than twenty court judgments from 2020 to 2023 reveals that most such cases are settled through mediation, and some judgments even rule that social media accounts should not be treated as marital property subject to division.
  2. Mainstream Position: When an account generates business income during the marriage, the property rights and associated proceeds are considered marital property; however, given the account’s close association with its registrant, the approach is to assign ownership to the operator while providing monetary compensation. Suzhou huqiu district Court Case (No.6 Typical Case of Family Dispute in Jiangsu Court in 2023): The man's pre-marital operation was quick, and the registered same name after marriage increased by more than 300 million yuan. The court determined that the property rights and income of the account number were common property. As the account number was registered and operated by the man and had strong personal attributes, the account number was transferred to the man and compensated the woman for 66000 yuan.
  3. Latest Breakthrough: Divorce Case of Millions of Fans Anchor in Xiangyin County Court of Hunan Province (notified by Hunan High Court in January 2026): After marriage, a certain person registered a live broadcast account as an individual, and the couple jointly managed a million fans and brought in live broadcast and advertising revenue; The court determined that the account was a virtual property of the network and its value was a common property, but because the account was deeply bound to Duan's image, the judgment account number belongs to Duan, and 40% of the man will be compensated according to the judicial evaluation value of more than 100 million yuan, which will be maintained in the second instance.

2. Which accounts are eligible for allocation: first by type, then by value.

  1. Major livestream shopping account (millions of followers, with steady orders):This type is closest to operating assets and can be assessed and divided (the Xiangyin case in Hunan falls into this category).
  2. Public Number and Knowledge Payment Account Number: There is a precedent that the public number has independent economic value-in the first case of WeChat public number division (partnership background, non-divorce) widely reported by the media in 2018, the court assessed the value of the public number to 3.4 million yuan and ruled it equally among the four parties (source: quoted by Shanghai Comprehensive Management of Political Science and Law Network). However, the divorce scene is restricted by the platform rules: the public number does not support direct change of the subject, can only go through the official "account transfer", must office certificate, pay 300 yuan audit fee, the target account must be authenticated by the subject and the ordinary individual subject is limited, so the divorce division almost falls to "return to the operator + discount compensation".
  3. Mid-tier accounts (tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of followers, with genuine transaction volume):Negotiable and divisible, often resolved through mediation. In the divorce case announced by Hunan Linxiang Court in June 2022, the couple had more than 100000 fans shaking the fishing gear live broadcast number. The court decided that the income was common property and the account number was not suitable for ordinary property division. After mediation, the account number belonged to the operator and compensated the other party. In a similar case reported by the People's Daily in July 2022, more than 100,000 fans returned to the registered party after mediation and compensated the other party in stages of 300000 yuan.
  4. Pure life records, social accounts (no commercial realization): It is generally not treated as joint property, except for incidental gains within marriage.
  5. “Official account” registered in the company’s name or actually used for the company’s business operations: In principle, the rights and interests of the account belong to the company invested in operation, and the divorce divides the company's equity and operating income rather than the account. Disputes over the resignation of employees and the cancellation of MCN contracts and the cancellation of numbers and the cancellation of numbers have increased in recent years (the Lvliang Lishi District Court gave a prompt in May 2026). If one party conceals the company number by falsely claiming the personal number, it can be disproved from the real name subject and the company account book.

3. Live Rewards and Gifts Income: one side is income, the other side is expenditure

Revenue side-start your own broadcast and receive rewards. The commission of gifts, the commission of goods and the advertising fee from the live broadcast within the marriage belong to the labor remuneration and production and operation income of Article 1062 of the Civil Code, which are the common property of the husband and wife; the platform is recorded according to the net amount of tax withheld by the labor remuneration, and the unwithdrawn balance and unsettled commission are also the property benefits that have been generated, which should be settled together when divorcing.

Expenditure side-reward others with common property. Interpretation (II) Article 6: If one spouse rewards the couple's common property on the webcast platform without the consent of the other spouse, and the amount obviously exceeds the general consumption level of the family, which seriously damages the interests of the couple's common property, it can be regarded as "squandering"; If the other spouse asks to divide the common property within the proposal, or requests to give less or no reward to the spouse during divorce, the people's court shall support it. During marriage, stop loss can be divided according to article 1066 of the civil code, and during divorce, one can claim to divide less according to article 1092. Reference case: Wuxi Xinwu District Court case, Zhao after marriage to conceal his wife to reward anchorwoman more than 150 million yuan or even online loans, the court found that constitutes a profligacy, is a major fault, ruled that it only 25% of the common property (China Court Network reported in September 2025).

Can it be recovered externally? The part collected by the platform is usually regarded as network service consumption, and it is generally difficult to claim return. If the reward is based on extramarital affairs and other purposes that violate the duty of loyalty, and the essence is to give common property to a third party, article 7 of the (II) can be interpreted to claim that the gift is invalid in violation of public order and good customs and request for return-the supreme law issued a typical case in January 2025 to clarify that such requests should be supported; general consumer rewards should not be easily found invalid (Beijing Haidian District Court April 2026 legal caliber). Therefore, the primary battleground for a spouse lies within the marital relationship.

4. How to calculate value: the number of fans is just the starting point; revenue is the true benchmark.

There is no uniform legal standard for account value, which is the consensus of judges and evaluation agencies. There are three paths in practice: both parties negotiate pricing (66000 yuan in the Huqiu case and 300000 yuan in the People's Daily report are the results of negotiation); Judicial evaluation (the Xiangyin case court entrusted the evaluation agency to evaluate the number of fans, content quality, activity, industry influence, brand cooperation, etc.); The court decides according to the stop-shift status, platform sharing and industry practice. There are three mainstream assessment methods (examples are fictitious, only schematic ideas):

  1. income method (the most valued): take the real flow of water in the past one to three years of marriage as hard indicators-cash withdrawal records, advertising quotations, MCN sharing orders, gross profit with goods, multiply the annual net income by 3 to 5 times or discount the future income (example: the average annual net income of a 600000 powder with goods number in the past three years is 400000 yuan, which is about 1.6 million yuan by 4 times).
  2. Market law: refer to the trading market of similar accounts-the platform forbids private transfer, but the publicly reported trading price and MCN acquisition offer still have reference significance, and the speculation should be eliminated.
  3. Cost method: estimated by manpower, equipment and investment, which is usually significantly lower than the income method and is only used as a bottom line reference.

No matter which method is used, there are four types of discounts: stop more and stop more (after more than 300 million powder in the Huqiu case stopped for more than a year, the compensation is only 66000 yuan); People set the binding degree (if the account number is separated from their own operation, fans will be lost); The risk of the title and the net amount after the platform is divided into and withheld taxes and fees; Cutting during the period after marriage, divide only the parts formed and produced within marriage.

5. division method: discount compensation mainly, transfer is the exception

  1. Discount compensation (absolute mainstream): the account number belongs to the actual operator, and the other party is compensated according to the value of negotiation or evaluation; the shares are not all half and half, and the court's comprehensive joint operation contribution and the degree of account dependence are discretionary. Xiangyin case sentenced the other party to enjoy 40% as an example.
  2. Revenue sharing or joint operation: It is applicable to couples who both parties have the ability to operate and are still willing to cooperate after divorce. They can agree on account co-management, share profits according to proportion, exit trigger repurchase (example), and the risk is conflict of interest and mutual reporting of violations.
  3. account transfer and migration (restricted by platform rules):TikTok and Kuaishou agreements prohibit transfers, but there are still avenues available. Beijing Fangshan District Court concluded the first case of Beijing's account ownership change in January 2023: the 170000 fan brought the goods account to the actual operating woman after mediation. The platform initially refused to transfer the account with "the account is for my use only". The executive judge interpreted the law with the effective document and the notice of assistance in execution. The platform finally canceled the original real name and re-authenticated, and changed the account to the woman (Beijing Daily reported on January 31, 2023). The path is "effective document + court assistance execution + platform re-real name authentication". WeChat public number can only go through the official account migration (see above), direct transfer between individuals is not realistic, usually return discount compensation.
  4. Malicious derogation: one party may claim to divide according to the value before the derogation, and claim to be less divided according to Article 1092 of the Civil Code, and apply for behavior preservation to prohibit the change of cancellation if necessary.

6. discovery and proof: how to adjust the account flow

Three-piece suit in the lawsuit: include the account number in the common property list, and apply to the court to order both parties to declare the property truthfully-the fourth typical case of family dispute in 2023 of Jiangsu court clearly states that the property declaration is not true and bears less adverse consequences; Apply to the court to obtain background data from the platform, and all have channels for public investigation, which need to be based on effective documents or investigation orders; Apply for property preservation to freeze to withdraw bank cards, simultaneous application for behavioral preservation of write-off risk. Evidence is prepared according to six items:

  1. Registration and real-name information: real-name screenshots of account security page, binding mobile phone and cash withdrawal card;
  2. Fans and traffic data: Creator center, data board recording screen and time stamp, fixed the amount of fans and broadcast at the time of divorce;
  3. Revenue flow: reward and cash withdrawal records, small shop commission settlement, advertising and star map receiving orders, MCN sharing orders;
  4. Tax Records: Reporting labor compensation income via the Individual Income Tax App — the tax slip withheld by the platform serves as the most objective “shadow ledger” of your income.
  5. Business materials: advertising quotations, brand cooperation contracts;
  6. The opposing party’s tipping records: platform consumption statements and top-up records, used to argue that funds were squandered and should be divided accordingly.

Key points of proof: electronic evidence retains the original carrier and does time stamp fixation or notarization to avoid only screenshots being questioned for authenticity; income is cut by running water according to the period before and after marriage; if the other party has the background and withdrawal account but refuses to provide it and cannot reasonably explain it, the court may make an adverse presumption.

7. Frequently Asked Questions

Are livestreaming tips and e-commerce commission income after marriage considered marital joint property?

. According to Article 1062 of the Civil Code, the income from live broadcast in marriage is the remuneration for labor and operating income. The direct division of the withdrawal, the unwithdrawn balance, the unsettled commission is also the property benefits that have been generated, should be included in the division list, according to the platform share, withholding tax after the net calculation.

The husband secretly tipped a female livestreamer hundreds of thousands of yuan—can the money be recovered?

Two lines. Within husband and wife: if the reward amount obviously exceeds the general consumption level of the family and seriously damages the interests of the common property, it can be determined to be extravagant according to Article 6 of the (II) of interpretation, and it can be claimed to be divided less when requesting division or divorce within marriage-referring to the case of Wuxi Xinwu District Court, the party who rewarded more than 150 million yuan only gets 25%. For anchors and platforms: in general, it is difficult to recover directly, and the platform share is usually regarded as service consumption; If it can be proved that the reward is based on extramarital affairs and other purposes that violate the duty of loyalty, the gift may be invalid and the return may be requested according to Article 7 of the Interpretation (II).

The real name of the account is under the name of the other party. Do I still have a copy?

I’m in. The real name only determines who is the registrant and does not determine the ownership of the rights and interests; the Suzhou Huqiu case and the Hunan Xiangyin case both identified the property rights and interests of the marital registered operating account as common property. Evidence of joint operations should be fixed: joint exposure, product selection, capital investment, joint management of withdrawal accounts, etc.

An account registered before marriage gained a million followers after marriage—how should it be divided?

The account body belongs to the registered party's personal property before marriage (the first item of Article 1063 of the Civil Code), but the increase of fans and the realized income from the operation after marriage can be divided according to the common property-refer to the treatment of the registered fast-track number before marriage in Suzhou Huqiu case: the amount of fans developed after marriage, the property income belongs to the common property.

What should I do if the other party cancels the account and clears the powder before the divorce?

In case of malicious derogation of common property, it can be claimed that it is less divided or compensated according to Article 1092 of the Civil Code, and the data of fans and running water before cancellation are retained, and it is claimed that it is divided according to the value before the derogation; action preservation can be applied to prohibit cancellation and change in litigation.

8. Practical Insights from a Lawyer

This kind of cases are most afraid of not leaving marks at ordinary times and relying on memories when divorcing. From the experience of handling cases, whether and how the account itself can be divided, we must first distinguish whether it is a purely personal attribute or an operating asset jointly operated within marriage. The property rights and interests of accounts registered within marriage and continuously realized are usually treated as common property. However, because the account number is highly bound to the registered and shown person, in practice, the account number is mostly owned by the operator and compensated at a discount to the other party, instead of dividing the account number into half. If you want compensation to be implemented, the core is to prove the value of your account and your contribution to the business.

The evidence has to be strenuous in three places. One is the income, with the goods commission, advertising fees, reward settlement flow and withdrawal records, can be transferred to the platform or settlement account through the court to apply for an investigation order as far as possible. The second is expenditure. If one party rewards others in large amounts without consent, it is a situation where it can strive for less points, so the other party's recharge and reward records should also be fixed. The third is the traces of business. Your presence, selection of products, chat with customers and scheduling records are all materials that prove the joint investment. Usually with a common account collection and payment, regular reconciliation, than after the old account is much more effective.

When negotiating, don't be biased by such statements as the account number is my real name and the platform is not allowed to transfer. The real name and transfer rules change the way of distribution and do not change the nature of the property. The more pragmatic approach is to accept the account number to remain in the hands of the operator, focusing on the compensation amount and payment method: the amount can be discussed comprehensively with reference to running water, the commercial value of fans and the investment of account number growth, and the payment should be made in one-time or installment and the breach clause should be stated. If the other party hides the account number and refuses to provide background data, it will apply to the court in the lawsuit to order it to declare and push the pressure of proof back to him. Whether

account can be transferred is a matter of platform rules, and whether rights and interests should be divided is a legal issue: the former can control the transfer of ID, while the latter can control the ownership of cash flow. Operation sequence: file the marriage change signal as soon as it appears, and fix the platform, ID, real name, number of fans and flow of water in the past year item by item; Can negotiate on the negotiation, put the account number to whom, the amount of compensation, the attribution of uncashed income, liquidated damages into the divorce agreement; In case of prosecution, the account number shall be included in the property list, and the application for declaration, transfer and preservation shall be made. After marriage, the number raised together and the reward received together must be calculated clearly.