In recent years, the number of foreign-related marriages has been increasing. Once the relationship between the husband and wife breaks down and cannot be reconciled, and they are moving towards divorce, how to go through the divorce procedures smoothly? What if one party is abroad and it is inconvenient to return to China? Based on years of experience in handling cases, I have summarized some experiences in handling foreign-related divorces and share them as follows:
OneWhich marriages are foreign-related?
If there are foreign-related elements in the marriage, it can be recognized as a foreign-related marriage. For example, one of the spouses is a foreigner or a resident of Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan, or both parties are married abroad, or one of the spouses is settled abroad, or has property abroad, etc.
IIThe way to handle foreign-related divorce
There are two main ways to handle foreign-related divorce:
1) Divorce by mutual agreement.
If both parties voluntarily divorce and reach an agreement on the disposition of child support, property and debts, they may go to the marriage registration agency to handle the divorce by agreement. Divorce by mutual agreement is relatively simple compared to litigation divorce (although now that a 30-day cooling-off period has been added, it is not as quick as it used to be.) However, if the marriage is registered abroad, or if one party is unable to return to China abroad, the divorce cannot be obtained by agreement.
2) Divorce by litigation.
We know that if the parties are unable to agree on a divorce, they need to sue the court for divorce.
IIIWhen going to court to sue for divorce, what happens when one party is abroad?
For foreign-related litigation divorce, first of all, we must know whether we can sue in a Chinese court and which court to go to? If you are the plaintiff, tell you how to determine the jurisdiction of the court.
1.If you are abroad, the other party is at home.
According to the principle of the plaintiff against the defendant, the lawsuit is filed in the court where the other party is located.
2.If you're at home, the other party is abroad.
Go to your own local court to file a lawsuit, but you will need to provide the address of the other party abroad, etc
3.If both parties are domiciled abroad, this situation can first consider suing for divorce abroad and then apply for recognition at home. If it is difficult to sue for divorce abroad, return to China to sue.
In general, foreign-related divorce cases are often more complex than ordinary divorce cases in China. For example, documents from overseas will involve notarization and authentication; For the foreign party, the time for the court documents to be served will be longer; For foreign language documents, translation into Chinese is required; The question of how the court deals with foreign property.
About the Author. Mr. Gao Hexin has 20 years of experience in lawyer practice, and holds a national translation professional qualification (level) certificate, mainly engaged in civil and commercial and foreign-related legal business, during the practice period, he has participated in many foreign-related business negotiations, and has provided high-quality services for domestic and foreign enterprises and individuals, including a number of multinational companies. In 2018, Mr. Gao Hexin was selected by the Ministry of Justice as one of the 1,000 foreign-related lawyers in the country.
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