Divorce here or Australia?

[discobay]

A couple with two daughters currently live in Australia but the wife is Hong Kong Chinese and the family did live in Hong Kong for some time. Is there any difference if they file for divorce in HK over Oz?

[discobay]

Are there any divorcees here?

[PDLM]

Not me, and I am not a lawyer, but as I understand it, to petition for divorce in Hong Kong at least one of the petitioners must be domiciled in Hong Kong. This appears to be supported by the application form: http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/crt_s...pdf/form2c.pdf

If the wife has not renounced Chinese citizenship and taken Australian then I guess she is still domiciled in Hong Kong, so if she is (one of) the petitioners then I guess the court would accept the petition. But if she has been in Australia for a long time, taken Australian citizenship and, particularly if she no longer holds Chinese citizenship, then I think you'd have to file in Australia. Where they got married might influence this as well.

As to the differences between filing in the two places, I've not really any idea, but the HK process is pretty well documented here: Court Services & Facilities
So if the divorce is by mutual consent and there is no disagreement over finances etc then I guess you just go for whichever is the easier process.

[discobay]

Useful information thanks. They were married elsewhere (neither HK or Oz I will need to ask) and the wife has retained her Chinese citizenship. I think they are keen to know if the laws on divorce differ greatly.

[PDLM]

In terms of how easy it is to get or in terms of what happens in a contested settlement?

As I understand it, if the parties agree on the financial terms and on access to any minor children, and have been married for more than a couple of years, then divorce is reasonably straightforward in either place.

[discobay]

My mate wants to know if he is automatically obliged to support his to-be ex-wife and handover half of everything or is all this open to negotiation and agreement.
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[PDLM]

As I understand it, if the couple agree then whatever they agree is fine. The question is what happens if they fail to agree - that's when it gets messy and the only real winners are the lawyers.

[thundacatchergo]

don't you have to file for divorce in the country you got married in?

[PDLM]

No, of course not! People move all over the world and there is general reciprocal recognition of marriages and divorces (at least of monogamous marriages between a man and a woman).

There was an interesting article in The Economist a few weeks back on this subject.

[hullexile]

As I understand it, if the couple agree then whatever they agree is fine. The question is what happens if they fail to agree - that's when it gets messy and the only real winners are the lawyers.

Under UK law as I understand it the judge can refuse an agreement if he or she considers it to one-sided (I guess to stop one party being beaten into submission).