Some of us might know about how to divorce between two Vietnamese parties, however, it is more complicated to end the marriage which involve a Vietnamese and a foreign. There are many documents need to be provided and there are number of procedures need to be implemented. So what is the procedures of Divorce involving foreign elements or International divorce in Vinh Phuc? Youth & Partners Law Firm will give the answer below:

1. Legal basis

-  Law on marriage and family 2014

-  The code of civil procedure 2015

-  Others regulations

2. Divorce involving foreign elements cases

-  Divorce between Vietnamese citizen and foreign

-  Divorce between foreigners who permanently reside in Vietnam

In the case that Vietnamese citizen who not permanently reside in Vietnam when they divorce, then the case shall be settled according to the law of the countries where two parties reside together. If they do not reside in the same countries, then the settlement shall be accordanced to Vietnamese law.

In the case that two parties have property which is real estate in foreign, then the case regarding to the property shall be settle according to the  law of the countries that have property.

3. The jurisdiction of the court

According to the Article 28 and 29 of The Code of Civil procedure 2015, the marriage and family dispute or resquest are belong to the jurisdiction of the courts

According to Clause 3 of Article 35 and Article 37 of The Code of Civil procedure 2015, the international marriage dispute shall be fall under the the jurisdiction of people's Courts of province.

In some special cases are specified in Clause 4 Article 35 of The Code of Civil procedure 2015, if the divorce of Vietnamese citizens living in frontier areas and citizens of neighboring countries living near Vietnam then the case shall be fall under the jurisdiction of people's Courts of district.

4. Procedure of Divorce

Step 1: Submit a valid file for divorce at jurisdiction court. The file include:

Original Marriage certificate (If any); in the case the original one losing, then the copy which certified of the competence state agency would be perfect replacement

A divorce application (there is included agreement between two partners on common property, children or request for court settlement in the case that two parties don’t have agreement) (if any);

A notarized copy of Birth certificate of your children (if any);

Documents proving that one party is abroad;

Documents of asset ownership (if any);

Copy of Identify Card/ Passport, Permanent Residence Book of the two parties;

Divorce application which made by party who not permanently residing in Vietnam have to be consular legalized and signed by the permanent resident in Vietnam. Regarding to common property and children, both parties can choose between settle by themselves or ask the court to settle, these contents need to be clearly stated in the divorce application;

Step 2: Within 7-15 days, the Court will check the file, if it is complete and valid, the Court will send a notice of advance payment.

Step 3: Pay the civil court fee advance at the competent Civil Judgment Enforcement Sub-department and submit the receipt to the Court.

Step 4: The court opens a conciliation and conducts divorce proceedings according to first-instance procedures.

Note: It is not necessary if the divorce case  go through the conciliation outside the court (commune People's Committee, Union or Organizations, ...) However, in practice, this conciliation step still would be required in many courts .

5. The Litigation  time limit

The processing time varies from case to case. On the basis of law, the time limit for trial preparation is from 4 to 6 months from the date of acceptance of the case; The time limit for opening a court session is from 1 to 2 months from the date of the decision to bring the case to trial.