With the growing number of foreign exchanges in recent years, the number of foreign marriages of Chinese citizens has also risen sharply. The mutual support of life in a foreign country is heartwarming, but unfortunately, marriage is not always as sweet as wine. When a foreign-related marriage is difficult to continue, how to be recognized by the Chinese court after a divorce in a foreign country has become the first threshold that affects the parties to start a new life.
Recently, King&Capital Law Firm, Mr. Cai Kangmiao and Mr. Guo Yeqin successfully represented an application for recognition of a divorce case in a U.S. court.
I. Recognize the person by the text, a trans-oceanic phone call to determine the entrustment
In this case, the client, Mr. W, in August this year in the United States by reading the successful cases written by Mr. Cai Kangmiao "how to get recognition of foreign divorce judgment in China" article, through the mailbox to contact with Mr. Cai Kangmiao. Mr. W in the United States, California has a stable and promising career, it is inconvenient to go back to deal with the relevant matters, after a phone call to communicate with the lawyer to feel that the professional quality of the lawyers, and decided to entrust immediately.
Second, professional guidance to customers to provide notarized certified documents, institutions synchronous communication and rapid case filing
The clients of this case, Mr. W and Ms. S, are both Chinese nationals, and Mr. W lives in California, USA. Mr. W and Ms. S registered their marriage in 2007 at the Marriage Registry of a district in Beijing, but their relationship broke down due to personality differences, and Mr. W filed a petition for divorce with the Superior Court of a county in California in 2020, and Ms. S appeared in court in response to the subpoena, and the court ruled that the marriage between Mr. W and Ms. S was over at the beginning of 2021, and the judgment took effect that year. At present, there is no civil judicial assistance agreement between China and the U.S. Although Mr. W has obtained a divorce judgment in the U.S. for nearly three years, he is still in a state of marriage with Ms. S in China, and his domestic property cannot be divided.
According to China's existing legal provisions: with China has not concluded a judicial assistance agreement with the foreign court of the divorce judgment, Chinese parties can apply to the people's court to recognize the foreign court on the legal effect of the part of the divorce relationship.
Due to the special nature of foreign-related cases, and the client Mr. W is temporarily inconvenient to return to China, the case in the court before the case, the U.S. divorce decree and power of attorney and other materials need to be certified by the local notary public certification, certification by the Secretary of State, the Consulate of our country in the country authentication (special note: November 7, 2023, the "abolition of the authentication requirements for foreign public documents Convention" (the "Convention") entered into force in China, according to the "Convention") According to the Convention, the States Parties will simplify the way of "double authentication" of documents to a "one-step" certification procedure using an additional certificate, which, after being affixed, will be sent directly to the States Parties to the Convention for use without the need to apply for traditional consular authentication, and the U.S. is also a State Party to the Convention, so there is no need to apply for authentication thereafter. (The United States is also a State Party to the Convention, so there is no need to go through the authentication procedure thereafter.) The U.S. divorce decree also needs to be translated by a translation company and notarized by a notary public in our city.
In order to promote the progress of the case as soon as possible, on the U.S. divorce judgment, application, power of attorney notarization and authentication, the lawyer first time to communicate with the client and obtain the relevant documents for remote assistance; in the country, the lawyer and the court on the format of the application, the requirements for service and other detailed consultation; and with the translation company on the translation of the translation time and translation costs for the coordination, and the notary public on the materials needed at the same time for the communication. It took two months to complete all the materials and file a successful case after continuous coordination and feedback both remotely and on-site.
Understanding the relationship between the parties and selecting the address for service of process
According to the supreme people's court on December 31, 2021 issued "the national court of foreign commercial maritime trial work symposium minutes" 37 [1] of the provisions of this type of cases need to be served on the respondent, increasing the difficulty of handling, because this type of cases both parties in the overseas divorce basically no longer in contact with each other, can not understand each other's whereabouts, and even if contacted each other with the willingness to cooperate with the will is not strong, this case also exists! This situation, the lawyer and the client detailed communication to understand the other party's family background and reasons for divorce. Lawyer after comparison, selection of service address, and finally make the other party actively entrusted domestic lawyers to respond to the lawsuit, for the client Mr. W saved valuable time.
Fourth, grasp the overall situation, smooth court, the next day to obtain the Civil Ruling
Lawyers will be a one-time the court needs all the materials, in the face of the other party requires the provision of domestic property evidence, lawyers clever response, the court finally supported our application request that recognizes the United States court on the dissolution of the marriage of Mr. W and Ms. S part of the legal effect of the divorce judgment, the next day to receive the court's "Civil Ruling", Mr. W finally completed in the country and Ms. S legal dissolution of the marriage. Mr. W finally accomplished his wish to legally dissolve his marriage with Ms. S in China.
Conclusion
From the time Mr. W appointed Mr. Cai Kangmiao and Mr. Guo Yeqin from King&Capital to the time when the court issued the Civil Ruling, it only took more than 3 months. During this period, all communication was done online, which had minimal impact on the client's normal life and greatly saved time and money costs, and the client highly affirmed King&Capital lawyers' efficiency and conscientious and rigorous attitude.
Notes:
[1] the supreme people's court issued "the national court of foreign-related commercial maritime trial work symposium minutes" 37. parties to apply for the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments, rulings, the people's court shall in the adjudicatory instruments will be the other party as the respondent. Where both parties have filed an application, they shall be listed as the applicant. The people's court shall send a copy of the application to the respondent. The respondent shall submit its comments within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the copy of the application; if the respondent does not have a residence within the territory of the People's Republic of China, it shall submit its comments within thirty days from the date of receipt of the copy of the application. If the respondent does not submit its comments within the said period, this shall not affect the examination by the people's court.
