Sharing of expertise
Question 37: For legal issues in the divorce case that are not prescribed by Vietnamese law, can the Court apply practices and/or applications of analogy of laws?
Application of practices in divorce cases Customs in divorce cases are obvious rules of conduct to which define rights and obligations of the spouses in the marriage and family relationship, remaining consistent for a long time, and recognised and applied generally in a region or a community of Vietnam[3]. Article 7 of the Law on…
Question 36: What must be done for a foreign Court’s decision on a divorce between a Vietnamese and a foreigner to be enforceable in Vietnam? Which is the State agency of Vietnam responsible for this matter? How long does it take?
Under Article 125 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, regulations regarding the recognition and recording of judgement and decision from foreign Courts or competent foreign authority on marriage and family is as follows: Recognition of a judgement or decision on marriage and family of a foreign Court requested for being enforced in Vietnam…
Question 35: As for divorce cases comprising a foreign element, are the divorce petition, and other relevant documents as prescribed by law, required to be translated into Vietnamese and consulated before being submitted to the Vietnamese Court?
Under the Civil Proceedings Code 2015, Vietnamese is the language for writing and speaking in the process of resolving civil dispute. Accordingly, divorce petition, documents, evidence, and other papers attached to such petition in foreign languages must be translated into Vietnamese, notarised and lawfully certified. In addition to the translation into Vietnamese, these documents and…
Question 34: After the judgement of the Court of first instance was issued but that one of the spouses disagrees with the judgement, what is the maximum time for that spouse to have the right to make an appeal against the judgement to the appellate Court?
Under the regulation of the Civil Proceedings Law, the spouses in general, and each of the spouses in particular have the right to appeal against a first instance judgement which has not yet come to effect within the time limit as prescribed by law in order to petition the appellate Court to resolve the case…
Question 33: In a divorce case, which is the circumstance that the Court shall have the right to issue a decision suspending the case resolution? What is the consequence of such suspension? How will a Court fee deposit paid by the plaintiff be handled? If either of the spouses disagrees such a suspension decision, will he or she have the right to lodge an appeal against it? How long is the time limit for lodging an appeal against a Court decision and which is the date that such time limit shall be calculated from? If such appeal is legitimate, which is the State agency that the petition for appeal shall be submitted to?
Circumstances for suspending the divorce resolution Suspending the divorce settlement means the Court shall issue a decision to suspend the settlement when there are legal grounds. As usual, the case shall be resolved by judgement or decision of the Court which came into effect. However, during the settlement, if the legal ground for the suspension…
Question 32: In a divorce case, under which circumstances does the Court have the right to make a decision to temporarily suspend the handling of the case? Does a spouse have the right to appeal against such a decision? If so, which is the competent State authority to settle the appeal request?
Temporarily suspending resolution of the civil case in general and divorce case in particular means that it is the Court’s decision to temporarily suspend the resolution of the civil case for a period of time when there are legal grounds prescribed by law. If the legal ground which justified the temporary suspension no longer exists,…
Question 31: In a divorce case, what are the circumstance in which a spouse is considered to use his or her right in an unfriendly way or to abuse the rights to obstruct litigation activities of the Court or other litigants in the divorce case
According to the regulations at Chapter XL of the Civil Proceedings Code 2015, those acts of a spouse which will be considered as obstructing civil litigation activities consist of: Obstructing verification, and collection of evidence by persons conducting proceedings as specific: Forging, or destroying important evidence aimed at obstructing resolution of the case by the…
Question 30: In which case will the spouse as the plaintiff have the right to petition the Court to apply preliminary injunctive relief (such as prohibiting an obligor from exiting Vietnam or freesing accounts at the banks or prohibiting transfers of property rights with respect to common properties of the spouses in dispute?
According to the provisions of law, in general, during the resolution of a litigation case, the spouses, their legal representative or the agencies, organisations or individuals[3] have the right to petition the Court’s in charge to apply one or more preliminary injunctive relief[4]. Therefore, a plaintiff in a divorce case has the right to request…
Question 29: During the trial of the divorce case, if a spouse as the defendant is summoned properly by the Court for the second time but he or she is still absent, does the Court have the right to continue conducting the trial without the presence of the absentee? If the defendant has applied to petition the Court to conduct the hearing in his or her absence, does the Court have the right to continue conducting the trial?
Since divorce is considered as a civil case, the hearing of the divorce case shall comply with the regulations of the Civil Proceedings Law. If the spouses are absent whether or not they have a legitimate reason not to be present after being properly summoned by the Court for the first time, the hearing shall…
Question 28: Upon carrying out the conciliation at the Court in a divorce case, it appears that the spouses’ agreement is contrary to the laws (such as an agreement on valuation of common properties at a low value to reduce the payable amounts of personal income tax and registration fees) or is contrary to social ethics (such as giving child(ren) to someone else to raise while both of the spouses have sufficient economic conditions to raise the children or not consulting with a third party on whether he or she agrees to adopt the child(ren) or not), does a Court approve the content of such agreement? Why so?
In principle, the right to reach an agreement among the litigants is always respected by the laws, except for some specific legal areas such as criminal, administration or civil status. The Law on Marriage and Family as well as the Civil Proceedings Law are not exempted from such principle. In a divorce case, the litigants…