Recently, King&Capital's Cai Kangmiao successfully represented an application for recognition of a divorce case in a Canadian court. the client of the case, Mr. W and the other party (i.e., his ex-wife) are both residing in Canada and both parties are still of Chinese nationality. both parties registered their marriage in Beijing in 2018, however, the marriage eventually came to an end. in July 2022, the Supreme Court of a Canadian court made a judgment of divorce against both of them and, although they have been divorced in Canada In July 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a divorce decree for both parties, and although they were divorced in Canada, Mr. W still wished to have his status as a single person recognized in China, and the couple's property in China still needed to be divided.

Mr. W was introduced to Mr. Cai by a friend, and Mr. Cai has accumulated rich experience in this field, as he has successfully represented Chinese citizens to apply for the recognition of foreign divorce cases for many times. On the date of receipt of the client's commission, Mr. Cai first time to the client's reasons for divorce, whether the two parties are still in contact with the understanding of the divorce decree and power of attorney and other materials to guide the client to the divorce decree and power of attorney and other materials, the first step is to Canada's local notary public (Notary Public) or law firms for the notarization of the documents, the second step is to the provincial government certification for authentication, and the third step is to China Consulate General for consular authentication. The third step is to go to the Chinese Consulate General for consular certification [1], and then guide the client to translate and notarize the divorce decree on behalf of the original text and the translation.

The parties in this case did not have any children, and the divorce was not a happy one, so the client actually had no contact with the other party, which made the service of the judgment difficult.

According to Article 274 of the Civil Procedure Law, the Judge first served the relevant legal documents to the other party by telephone and e-mail, and the other party obviously avoided service, and the Judge changed the mode of service due to the delay in receiving the Respondent's reply. According to the relevant provisions of the Circular of the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice on Mutual Consignment of Legal Documents between Chinese Courts and Foreign Courts through Diplomatic Corridors, the court commissioned the Canadian court to serve the documents. After six months of waiting, the contractor judge still did not receive the documents that can prove that the legal documents have been served, finally, the contractor judge took the way of public notice of service. According to the provisions of Article 274 (VIII) of the Civil Procedure Law, after waiting for the expiration of the 3-month public notice period and the 30-day defense period, the case was finally brought to trial.

Conclusion

Although this case has gone through 10 months (6+3+1) of foreign service, we finally succeeded in obtaining a ruling from the court that the recognition of the parties' Canadian divorce status is effective in our country, thus realizing the client's claim. In the process of handling the case, the cooperation between the client and the lawyer is the key to reach the request, despite the time difference, Mr. Cai Kangmiao for the client's request to reach the judge without condescending to communicate with the judge, and continue to follow up on the case process received the client's praise.

Notes:

[1] Special Note: January 11, 2024, the Convention on the Elimination of Requirements for the Authentication of Foreign Public Documents (the “Convention”) entered into force in China, according to the Convention, the State party to the instrument “double authentication” is simplified to the use of additional certificates of “one-step” certification procedures, with additional certificates Under the Convention, States Parties simplify the “double authentication” of documents to a “one-step” certification procedure using an additional certificate, which, after being affixed, is sent directly to the States Parties to the Convention for use without the need for traditional consular authentication, and Canada, which is also a State Party to the Convention, will not be required to apply for consular authentication from January 11, 2024 onwards.