Family Court (Hong Kong)

Coordinates: 22°16′48.02″N 114°10′20.48″E / 22.2800056°N 114.1723556°E / 22.2800056; 114.1723556

Family Court (Hong Kong)
Country Hong Kong
Location Hong Kong
Authorized by Hong Kong Basic Law
Website http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/index/index.htm
Judge-in-charge of the District Court Family Court
Currently Her Honour Judge Bebe Chu

The Family Court of Hong Kong is a court (part of the District Court, which mainly deals with cases relating to divorces and welfare maintenance for children.[1]

Divorce law

Hong Kong residents can start a petition for divorce only if having been married for at least 1 year and be able to prove reasons (or "grounds") for saying that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. They have to fill in a petition form and take it personally to the Family Court Registry. If the couple jointly apply to the court, they should together fill in a joint application form. If there are children of the family who are under the age of 18, Their custody and access must be included. Petitioners seeking legal advice can contact The Duty Lawyer Service's free Legal Advice Scheme for preliminary legal advice including matrimonial law in District Offices.

Family mediation

The Family Court holds family mediation designed to help couples who are divorcing or separating reach their own mutually acceptable agreements about ongoing arrangements for their children and / or how to resolve financial matters.

It is a voluntary process in which a specially trained, impartial third person, the mediator, seeks to help both sides to communicate effectively and to negotiate issues in dispute, all in a completely confidential setting.

References

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, December 20, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.