David Hodson on International Family Law: Part III and the second bite of the Lychee

How much should the family courts of one country interfere with the final decisions of the courts of another country when there has been jurisdiction proper investigation disclosure good legal representation and unbiased adjudication? Specifically should it occur between neighbouring countries including so-called westernised jurisdictions?  It is one of the bigger issues affecting the international family law community.

Marcus Dearle of Withers Hong Kong has drawn attention in the September edition of the International Family Law journal to the response of the Hong Kong judiciary and legislature to the problem faced by divorce actions in the neighbouring People's Republic of China. It is similar to the problems faced in England in the early 1980s. If a country recognises the genuine divorce granted by another country must it also recognise and enforce the financial order made ancillary to the divorce? Public policy of many countries is to recognise foreign divorces as much as possible.

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