Only a professional lawyer could understand the finer details of marital property and premarital assets.
Ordinary people generally had no idea how to protect their premarital assets properly.
That made it easy for others to exploit loopholes.
That was why people said not to marry a woman who knew the law, especially marriage law.
Otherwise, you could fall into a trap at any moment and lose everything, right down to your underwear.
You could walk away from the marriage without a penny, all those years of hard work benefiting someone else.
Su Bai had yet to answer Zhang Tongwei's question.
Wang Li, standing beside them, grew impatient first. "Lawyer Su is a professional marriage lawyer. Of course he could figure it out after asking a few questions!"
"Aren't you questioning Lawyer Su's professional competence by saying that?"
"Think about it. If it weren't for Lawyer Su, I'd still be sitting in the detention center!"
"But..."
"No buts. Lawyer Su isn't just a professional criminal lawyer. He's a professional marriage law consultant, too."
After hearing his childhood friend Wang Li's words, Zhang Tongwei gained a new appreciation for Su Bai's legal expertise.
Criminal law and marriage law.
That meant he was proficient in both-practically an all-round lawyer!
Zhang Tongwei felt much more reassured.
"Lawyer Su, can anything still be done in my situation? What are my chances of winning?"
"And how much of my property could I get back if we won?"
There was a hint of nervousness in Zhang Tongwei's eyes.
After all, this represented his parents' lifetime of hard work. A single apartment in the Southern Capital was worth several million yuan.
He couldn't accept handing it over so cheaply to a woman who had given him no happy memories in their three years of marriage!
Every time he thought about it, he wanted to slap himself twice. What had he seen in her?
Her bad temper? Her lousy figure?
He could only blame himself for being too young back then and such a poor judge of character!
Su Bai took a sip of tea and offered a brief analysis.
"Your case is somewhat complicated. Generally speaking, in a divorce lawsuit, you would probably retain sixty percent of the current assets, but you would still have to allocate about forty percent to the other party. Her debts would also be included."
"Because her debts do qualify as household expenses."
"But if you retain our firm, we should at least be able to keep both apartments from being divided. I can't guarantee anything else for now. Would you like to retain us?"
Zhang Tongwei grew excited at Su Bai's words.
He had consulted other law firms, and their lawyers had given him answers much like Su Bai's.
Forty percent of those two apartments would amount to a couple of million yuan!
Giving that to a woman like her would break his heart.
Now Su Bai had explicitly stated that he could at least protect both apartments. For Zhang Tongwei, that was an unexpected and welcome surprise.
"Yes... yes!"
"Lawyer Su, I'll retain the White Jun Law Firm for my divorce case!"
"Since you've decided to retain us, get ready to bring a case against your wife for fraud."
Zhang Tongwei: ????
Wang Li: ????
Li Xuezhen: ????
Wasn't this a divorce case?
Why were they bringing a fraud case against his wife?
Zhang Tongwei looked bewildered. "Lawyer Su, I'm filing for divorce."
Su Bai raised both hands and rubbed his temples as he looked at Zhang Tongwei.
"Your goal in filing a divorce case is to get divorced, correct?"
"Yes... I want a divorce."
"And you don't want her taking a share of your apartments, correct?"
"That's right, Lawyer Su. That woman has been spending my money and lying to me. We've only been married for three years, and she wants forty percent of my apartments. I won't accept that."
"Then there you go. If we bring a case for fraud, I guarantee we can achieve both of those objectives. As long as we achieve them, do you still care whether it's a divorce case?"
Faced with Su Bai's three successive questions, Zhang Tongwei shook his head. "No."
"Then that settles it. Whether it's a divorce case doesn't matter."
Zhang Tongwei went over that line of reasoning in his head. Seemingly only just catching on, he stared at Su Bai in shock.
"Lawyer Su, are you saying we could get that woman locked up, too?!"
Su Bai shook his head. "I can't promise that. I can only guarantee that your objectives will be protected."
"All right. Now that we've settled the scope and details of the engagement, you can sign the retainer agreement if you have no further questions."
"The legal fee will be ten percent of the combined forty-percent share of your two apartments. If you're sure, you can sign the retainer agreement."
Zhang Tongwei was still wondering whether the legal fee was too high when Wang Li slapped him on the shoulder. "What are you hesitating for?"
"You can get divorced, recover that forty-percent share of your apartments, and maybe even get that bloodsucker of yours locked up. It's only ten percent! If it were me, I wouldn't hesitate to pay twenty percent for a chance to put that thing behind bars. What are you still hesitating for?"
"Love? Love, my ass!"
"That's not what I..."
Zhang Tongwei opened his mouth, but the rest of the sentence never came out.
Su Bai took a sip of tea and waited quietly.
Two apartments received as demolition compensation in the Southern Capital were worth several million yuan. Even a few percent would amount to several hundred thousand.
It was perfectly normal for an ordinary person to be reluctant to pay that much in legal fees.
The price was already quite reasonable. Legal fees for divorce cases generally ranged from ten to thirty percent.
He had already charged the lowest rate.
Two minutes later.
Zhang Tongwei seemed to have made up his mind. "Lawyer Su, I agree. We can sign the contract."
Several hundred thousand yuan secured!
Quietly delighted, Su Bai asked Li Xuezhen to print the relevant retainer agreement.
Once the agreement was signed, he also had Zhang Tongwei pay 5,000 yuan toward the costs associated with bringing the case.
Any excess would be refunded, and any shortfall made up. Fair and square.
After Zhang Tongwei and Wang Li left.
Li Xuezhen entered the office with the documents she had already organized.
"Lawyer Su, are we really going to bring a fraud case against Zhang Tongwei's wife?"
"What else? We've already signed the retainer agreement. Did you think I was joking?"
"Once Zhang Tongwei brings the evidence he's collected to the firm, we can submit the written complaint."
Along with her surprise, Li Xuezhen felt a little thrill of excitement.
She had thought this would be a civil case, but it had turned into criminal litigation after all.
"All right, stop celebrating. I have a particularly difficult task for you."
Su Bai interrupted Li Xuezhen's private delight.
"Mr. Su, what task?"
"Find the short videos by that lawyer specializing in marriage cases-the one Zhang Tongwei mentioned his wife had told him about-and post comments every day pretending to be a disgruntled wife."
"Try to get a chance to join a live call."
"Huh?"
"This is key evidence!"
Key evidence?
"Understood, Lawyer Su!"
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