The niece took care of her sick uncle but was sued by her aunt for unjust enrichment and demanded the return of 290,000 yuan, and the court sentenced it!

Chengdu Business Daily Red Star News

2024-06-19 11:37Published on the official account of Red Star News of Chengdu Business Daily, Sichuan

Care during the pandemic

Uncle who has suffered from Alzheimer's disease for more than two years,

Later, he was sued by his aunt for unjust enrichment.

Is it sincere care or is it something else?

This dispute between "family affection" and "interests",

How will it end up?

recently

The Ningxiang City People's Court heard and pronounced the verdict

A case of unjust enrichment dispute.

Basic facts of the case

Mr. Cai (aged 72) and Ms. Wang are husband and wife, and Xiao Liu is Mr. Cai's niece.

Around 2020, Mr. Cai began to have mental retardation, memory loss, words and deeds, etc., often rummaging through cabinets at home, going out and walking, unable to live independently, and needed to be taken care of by Ms. Wang.

At the end of December 2019, Ms. Wang went to Hainan for the Chinese New Year and handed over Mr. Cai to Xiao Liu to take care of. Later, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out, Ms. Wang was unable to return to her hometown, and Xiao Liu continued to take care of Mr. Cai. In order to pay for the nanny's salary, medical expenses, living expenses, etc., Mr. Cai handed over his bank card to Xiao Liu.

From January 2020 to May 2022, Xiao Liu took care of Mr. Cai for more than 2 years, mainly responsible for helping to settle the nanny's salary, purchasing items needed by the family, and helping to deal with the hospital's related affairs. After that, although Ms. Wang came back smoothly, she lived alone and did not take Mr. Cai back.

On May 26, 2022, Mr. Cai was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's disease), and on the same day, Ms. Wang took Mr. Cai home.

Upon learning that her husband had handed over the bank card to her niece, Ms. Wang believed that Xiao Liu had illegally taken possession of Mr. Cai's funds of more than 290,000 yuan, so she sued the court for the return of the unjust enrichment.

Court decision

After trial, the court found that from January 2020 to May 2022, Xiao Liu obtained a total of more than 280,000 yuan from Mr. Cai, and after deducting the nanny's salary, living expenses, medical expenses and other expenses, as well as the 15,000 yuan that Xiao Liu had returned, the court confirmed that Xiao Liu should return a total of more than 100,000 yuan.

After trial, the court held that the law has a yardstick, and the judiciary also needs temperature. Mr. Cai developed a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, and Ms. Wang, as his spouse, should fulfill the main maintenance obligation. However, Ms. Wang went to Hainan to leave Mr. Cai, who had gradually lost his ability to take care of himself, at home. As Mr. Cai's niece, Xiao Liu has no statutory maintenance obligation to Mr. Cai, but she still took on the responsibility of taking care of Mr. Cai's daily life under the epidemic, so the court held that in addition to the conflict between the two parties, Ms. Wang should also recognize and recognize the time and energy that Xiao Liu put in to take care of an Alzheimer's patient for two and a half years.

Family affection should not be measured in monetary terms, but in this case, since Ms. Wang had already enjoyed the peace of mind brought by Xiao Liu's hard work, it was reasonable to convert the hard work into a certain economic value when the two parties had already had an economic dispute over the matter. Therefore, the court reduced the amount to be refunded to 80,000 yuan.

After the judgment of the case took effect, Xiao Liu actively fulfilled the obligations determined by the court judgment and returned 80,000 yuan.

What the judge said

The law is nothing more than human feelings, and court judgments must be both strong and warm, and the handling of cases must be reasonable, reasonable, and lawful. The parties in this case have a large dispute, and the two parties do not give in to each other. In the process of handling the case, the presiding judge integrated the traditional Chinese virtue "filial piety" and the core values of socialism into the trial of the case, considered Xiao Liu's sincerity, filial piety and actual labor to take care of his relatives, and decisively reduced part of the money that should be returned, with the intention of encouraging this kind of kindness and filial piety, and further promoting the traditional Chinese virtue of "all kindness and filial piety first" in the whole society.

The parties in this case from the initial-for-tat and saber-rattling to the final positive payment, handshake and harmony also reflect the power of family affection and the inheritance of the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, and the handling of the case has truly realized the conclusion of the case and realized the organic unity of legal and social effects.

Source: Ningxiang Municipal People's Court

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