Expert: John Dong - 10/2/2007

Question
my friend is a chinese citizen, married to an american citizen.  interestingly, after living in china for over 8 years, the husband ( the american ) decided he wanted a divorce.  upon separation, my chinese friend moved to america for several years ( the last 1.5 years in las vegas, nevada ) the husband stayed in china, but he filed for divorce in nevada.  the nevada court just recently finalized the divorce, against the wishes of my chinese friend ( i am biased, but i believe she was unfairly treated ) the couple have a 6 year old son that lives with my friends parents in china ( he's never left china ) - the nevada court indicated they had no jurisdiction over the child and that child support will need to be handled in china.  WHEW !!!  My question, is this divorce binding in china ?  the thought being my friend is thinking about returning to China to file divorce there hoping to get a more fair and impartial resolution of the divorce ?  2nd, if she cannot divorce in China, what is the best method to seek child support in China ( again, the father continues to live in China.  thanks in advance for the help !!

Answer
Your question is very interesting.

I think the Nevada court took the case because the wife is lived in Nevada, and the husband is a Us citizen. So the Nevada court took the case for the "long arm jurisdiction principle"

If the son have an US nationality, I think the Nevada court can judge the case of expenses of bringing up children. But since the boy lived in China, the local standard of living is hardly known by the Nevada court, so they left the case to Chinese court is understandable.

The US judgement of divorce was not certainly acknowledged valid in China. When someone take an overseas judgement to Chinese court for approve validity, the Chinese court will examine the case again according to Chinese law.

So you friend have 2 choice below:

1. Take the Nevada judgement to the Chinese court(the middle class court where they register marriage or where the husband lived.) for admit validity. Then file a parental support case.

But the judgement must done the notarization and authentication proceedings.

2. You friend directly go back to China, file a new divorce and parental support case.

According to Chinese Marriage law, the parties of divorce must appear in the court.

rgds.

Johnson Dong