In accordance with Article 12 of the Marriage Law and the Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (I) and (II), the legal consequences of an invalid marriage are as follows: (1) An invalid marriage is invalid from the beginning. Being invalid from the beginning means that it is determined that the marriage is not protected by law from the beginning only when it is declared invalid according to law. Upon the invalidation or annulment of a marriage, as claimed for by either spouse, the people's court shall require the spouses to surrender their marriage certificates and send a copy of the effective verdict to the local marriage registration authority. (2) and neither party to such marriage shall have any right or obligation as husband or wife. Neither party shall be entitled to any rights such as the claim for maintenance or right of inheritance from the other, or be liable for any obligation such as the obligation to support the other, etc., arising from the status of husband or wife of the other. (3) Property acquired during cohabitation shall be deemed to be jointly owned by both parties unless either party may prove that it is his/her personal property. In case of failure to reach an agreement, the people's court shall deliver a verdict following the principle of favoring the innocent party. The division of the property in case of an invalidated marriage due to bigamy shall be without prejudice to the property rights and interests of the parties to a legal marriage. (4) The provisions of the law in respect of the rights and obligations of parents and children shall be applicable to any child of the parties to any invalid or annulled marriage. According to Chinese laws and regulations, The status of the parents' marriage does not affect the rights and obligations of their children, and the rights and obligations of and for the parents and children are the same as those based on legal and effective marriage even if the parents are not married or their marriage is invalidated or annulled.
