The variety of divorce functions in Hong Kong rose 25 per cent yr on yr in 2023, with a household lawyer pointing to a surge in youthful {couples} searching for to separate for causes similar to adultery and conflicts over parenting.
In response to a paper the judiciary submitted to the Legislative Council’s Particular Finance Committee on Thursday, the variety of divorce instances filed with the Household Court docket elevated to twenty,621 final yr from 16,513 in 2022.
Final yr’s quantity was the very best since 2019, when 22,074 functions have been filed and the typical ready time between the setting down of a case to the listening to ranged from 81 to 89 days. The ready time final yr was between 53 and 71 days.
“The excessive variety of divorce instances is definitely not a very good factor for Hong Kong society, the place the administration has actively known as for a lift in delivery charges,” mentioned household lawyer Jocelyn Tsao, who began her observe in 2007.
Hong Kong’s excessive divorce, remarriage ranges reveal altering attitudes to household
Hong Kong’s excessive divorce, remarriage ranges reveal altering attitudes to household
The Census and Statistics Division mentioned in February that town had recorded 33,200 births final yr, a 2 per cent improve over 2022, and the primary uptick since 2017.
Tsao mentioned she had noticed that an rising variety of {couples} aged of their late 30s to late 40s had filed for divorce up to now 5 years, with many instances involving two frequent causes – adultery and conflicts over parenting.
“However apparently, we discovered extra purchasers got here to seek the advice of for divorce with out making the ultimate choice to file a petition within the three years of the pandemic,” Tsao famous.
In response to the judiciary, the Household Court docket acquired an annual common of 17,196 instances between 2020 and 2022, with the typical ready time starting from 62 to 69 days.
She additionally seen that youngsters affected by divorce instances have been getting youthful, with an utility she dealt with involving a baby who was only one yr outdated.
“When there is no such thing as a court docket order for custody, or care and management of the kid, mother and father have a tendency not to surrender dwelling with their youngsters,” she mentioned.
“Think about a scenario the place the mother and father are in excessive battle, their youngsters will dwell below an intense and hostile atmosphere that does no good to the youngsters’ [mental health].”
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Lawmaker the Reverend Peter Koon Ho-ming, who had requested the judiciary for the knowledge on the Household Court docket, mentioned he had acquired many requires assist from folks due to the lengthy ready instances for processing their divorce functions.
“They’re usually at a loss as a lot of them eagerly needed to start-over as quickly as potential,” mentioned Koon, including many of the calls he had acquired have been from mother and father with youngsters aged 10 or under.
In Hong Kong, one has to show to the court docket that “the wedding has irretrievably damaged down” earlier than getting approval for a divorce.
Causes embody the partner committing adultery, behaving in such a approach that one can’t be fairly anticipated to dwell with her or him, or the couple having lived aside for a steady interval of no less than two years earlier than submitting the petition.
Each Tsao and Koon agreed that the important thing to shortening the ready interval was to have extra judges sitting on the Household Court docket.
In response to the judiciary, the personnel serving on Household Court docket has remained the identical – 63 from 2020-21 to 2023-24, together with one principal Household Court docket decide and 7 district judges.
“I may even recommend the judiciary to show to extra new applied sciences to reinforce its effectivity,” Koon mentioned.
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In the meantime, at a gathering of the Particular Finance Committee on Monday, judiciary administrator Esther Leung Yuet-yin mentioned the heavy workload at numerous ranges of the courts was largely attributable to instances being postponed throughout the pandemic and an rising variety of advanced prison instances.
“Because of the deployment of judicial sources to deal with with precedence [2019 protests-related] and [national security] instances, the typical court docket ready instances for prison instances have been inevitably affected,” she mentioned.
Leung mentioned the judiciary may meet numerous goal ready instances for many civil instances.
As of end-February, courts of varied ranges had cleared about 93 per cent of greater than 2,300 instances associated to the 2019 protests and 87 per cent of over 200 nationwide safety instances.
Leung mentioned she anticipated ready instances for different instances may step by step fall after 2024.
