Category Archives: Form J

What Is A Form J And Why Is It Important?

Similar to a Form E, when you file for divorce in Hong Kong and proceed through the court system, there are a number of steps and forms you need to fill out as part of your divorce. One of the key disclosure documents you must fill out is a Form J. A Form J, or a Children’s Form is designed to help you and your spouse and the Court determine the best arrangements for the children. A Form J is therefore an important document that should be filled out with careful consideration and accurate details so that the Court can use this document to determine the best interests of the children. Similar to a Form E, a Form J is sworn and signed by you and should therefore contain truthful and accurate information. As this is a key document in determining custody and access arrangements, it is prudent that you fill out this form with the assistance of your solicitor who can guide you through the process of filling out the form in the most accurate and detailed way. In the event you and your spouse come to an agreement over the children without the need for Court intervention, then a Form J will not be needed. However, if you and your spouse are going through the Court system in order to resolve any custody and access arrangements, the Form J will be mandatory and you will exchange this disclosure document with your ex-spouse.

Let’s go through a Form J for a better understanding of what information and disclosure will be required by you:

Part 1: You and Your Children
In Part 1 of the Form J, you will need to provide general information about you and your children. This general information includes the full name and address of you and your children, their date of birth, age, sex and relationship to you. If there are third-parties involved in the care of your children such as step-parents, grandparents and domestic helpers, you will also need to provide such details including their name and their relationship to the children.

Part 2: Current Living Arrangements
In Part 2 of the Form J, you will need to provide detailed information about the current living arrangements. For example, how much time do the children spend time with you and with the other parent and/or other carers. If you are involved in a new relationship, you will also need to provide details of this new partner. As part of the current living arrangement explanation, you will also need to provide details as to the arrangements for the children when they are with you. For example, where do they sleep, do they share a room, and how long have these living arrangements been in place? During the children’s time with you, do the children communicate with the other parent and if so, how frequently and by what means of communication? How do you and the other parent deal with handovers and what are the logistics of these handovers of the children? Do the children communicate with extended family members when they are with you and if so, how frequently? Other questions that you will need to answer about the children’s arrangements is the type of extra-curricular activities the children are involved in and how often they attend these extra-curricular activities. What kind of support do you or tutors provide to the children regarding their school work? What kind of entertainment activities are your children involved in? Finally, in this section you will also need to detail how the children are cared for when you are working or when you have to attend to work commitments such as after-hours meetings/meals and/or travel abroad.

Part 3: Schooling
In Part 3 of the Form J, you will need to detail the children’s schooling arrangements including the name of the children’s school and their year at the school. You will also need to provide details about how your children travel to/from school, how long it takes to get to/from school and what the after-school care arrangements are for the children when they are with you. If there is special care required for your child due to special needs, this should be detailed in this section. This section is important because this is where you will need to detail your plans about how you have involved and plan to involve the other parent in the decisions related to the children’s schooling. For example, you will need to provide a plan as to how you and your co-parent will make decisions about school, choice of subjects and future career options. Will you and your co-parent agree on attending school functions together such as on parent days and sports days? You will also need to put forth the emergency contact for your children and who would be responsible as the point person should your child fall ill at school or there are emergency issues that need to be dealt with.

Part 4: Health
Part 4 of the Form J is related to your child’s health and medical problems. You will need to detail whether your child suffers from any health and medical problems and if any special care is required for your child. If your child suffers from any physical disability or requires special medication or therapy, this is where you will need to detail the issues and provide transparent information to the Court.

Part 5: Finances
In Part 5 of the Form J, finances become the focus of this section, as finances will be important for the care and future of your child. In Part 5, you will need to detail your income including any bonuses or commissions you may receive as part of your income. If you have received or are receiving government allowances, you will need to identify this source of incoming cash. If you are receiving maintenance from your ex-spouse, you will also need to detail what you have been receiving or are receiving.

Part 6: Future Parenting Arrangements
Part 6 of the Form J is an extremely important section. This is where you should detail what arrangements you would like to see for the children going forward and it is here you should detail what plans you have in place to bring this forward. In this section, you will detail the regular arrangements you propose for the children to spend time and communicate with the other parent including public holidays, school holidays, overnights and overseas trips. If the children are to live with the other parent instead of you, what proposals do you have for yourself in terms of communication and time with the children during public holidays, school holidays, overnights and overseas trips. You will also need to detail what proposals you have to assist the children in spending time and communicating with the other parent and other family members. This is an important section of the Form J because the Court will want to see how cooperative you are and if you are willing to be cooperative in the future. This is the time for you to show that you will do your utmost best to co-parent and be a willing participant in helping your children remain connected to the other parent. As the children’s support group not only includes parents and family members, the Court also wants to know how you will encourage the children to maintain friendships if a move is part of the proposal.

Part 7: Other Circumstances
Finally in Part 7 of the Form J, you will have the opportunity to detail any other circumstances which you believe are relevant to the arrangements of the children, including but not limited to mental/physical disability, mental/physical health and mental/physical abuse or violence. You can also detail any other relevant matters such as issues with a new partner or moving home. Your solicitor should assist you in detailing what is relevant and what necessary details should be provided or not.

Filling out a Form J can be overwhelming as you want to provide as much detail as possible, but you also do not want to overload the Court with too much unnecessary and historical information. It is therefore important that you speak with your solicitor to go through all the details of your case and consider what should or should not be included. Similar to a Form E, it is important to be reminded that you will need to sign this form under oath, thus your document must be truthful and should provide full and frank disclosure.

Parental Child Abduction In Divorce

Hong Kong is home to many expatriates and in a divorce, the issue of where a child will reside and grow up after a divorce is a distinct area of discussion among parents. Whilst the majority of parents do come to an agreeable conclusion as to a child’s future place of residence, there are those few highly litigious cases when removal of a child from the jurisdiction of Hong Kong can occur without the permission of one parent and without leave of the court.

When this occurs, it comes within the realm of parental child abduction and the courts take this very seriously as many countries are members of the Hague Convention; a multilateral treaty developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law and which provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member country to another. Hong Kong is a member of the Hague Convention and The Child Abduction and Custody Ordinance (Cap. 512)(CACO) was enacted on 5^th September 1997 to give effect to the Convention in Hong Kong. It is important to note that the People’s Republic of China itself is not a contracting state to the Convention, but yet Macau, another Special Administrative Region is. Thus, at this time there is no mechanism in place between Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China for the return of abducted children to China.

In Hong Kong, removal occurs when a child who was previously in the country of his/her habitual residence is taken away to another country. Retention occurs where a child who has previously been for a limited period of time outside the country of its habitual residence, is not returned on the expiry of that limited period.

In the event that you are concerned that your ex-spouse may unilaterally remove a child from the jurisdiction of Hong Kong, there are steps you can take to prevent this from occurring:

First and foremost, speak with a family law solicitor to discuss the filing of an application to restrict the removal of the child from Hong Kong. This application should be made within the main divorce suit and can be made on an ex parte basis, which is essentially an emergency hearing. If you are successful in obtaining an order restricting the removal of a child, be sure to speak to your solicitor about ensuring this order is adhered to including providing a copy of the removal restriction order to Hong Kong’s Immigration Department who will then have notice of this removal restriction should your ex-spouse attempt to leave Hong Kong with your child.

If you believe that your ex is plotting to remove your child from Hong Kong, be prepared and take preventative measures such as notifying your child’s teachers, babysitters and other caretakers of a possible threat. Record any and all threats made by your ex-spouse and keep updated photos of your child. Gather all documents related to your child such as passports and birth records and make sure you have copies of all documents and that the originals are safely stored in a secured place, accessible only by you. It may also be worthwhile to keep the lines of communication open between you and your ex-spouse, as it may help reduce any potential flight risks that you may be concerned about.

If your ex-spouse has already left Hong Kong with your child without your permission and/or without the leave of the court, it is imperative that you take immediate steps including the following:

Contact Police: Contact local authorities to report parental child abduction. This is especially important if you are concerned about the safety and well-being of your child and/or you’re concerned that your ex-spouse will be going into hiding with your child.
Seek Legal Counsel: As this is a situation which requires immediate attention, get into contact with a solicitor who can assist you with the return of your child. You will want a solicitor who is well-versed in Hague Convention related matters and one who has previously successfully obtained the return of a child from a foreign jurisdiction. Once a child is taken out of Hong Kong, there are many hurdles a parent must go through and if you are not properly armed with an outstanding legal team, it will be that much more difficult. If you are concerned about the whereabouts and well-being of your child, it is very important to keep your solicitor apprised of all communications with your ex-spouse and your child.
Make An Application: Once you have reached out to your solicitor, he/she may suggest that you file an application for the return of your child, but may also suggest that you make a request directly to the Secretary for Justice by filling in the necessary paperwork from the Department of Justice.
Do Your Own Research About The Hague Convention Treaty: Read up on The Hague Convention Treaty and become familiar with it so that you are knowledgeable about what situation you are dealing with. Not all countries are part of the Hague convention so it is vitally important to initially determine whether the country holding your child is a party to the treaty. Do your research and do not be afraid to ask your attorney tough questions about how the Hague Convention Treaty will affect your case and the likelihood of success of having your child return to Hong Kong.

It is important to note that a court will have discretion to refuse the return of a child to Hong Kong. The courts will consider factors such as consent, acquiescence in a removal, grave risk for a child’s return both to physical or psychological harm and/or the court may even consider a child’s maturity and his/her views about a return.

If you are the parent who wishes to remove your child from the jurisdiction of Hong Kong, the route is of course is to go through the legal system which includes negotiating and resolving issues related to child custody and access in your divorce case through mediation or having it resolved by a court order. It is understandable however that many parents find this to be a frustrating process as the courts in Hong Kong are dealing with backlog of cases resulting in delay before there is an adjudication of matters and even then, one parent may not be happy with the result. It goes without saying however, that at no point should a parent take matters into their own hands and resort to parental abduction of a child which can have detrimental effects especially on a child.

If you wish to remove your child from the jurisdiction of Hong Kong, speak to your solicitor about filing an application to remove your child permanently from the jurisdiction. If you and your ex can agree, a consent summons can be filed with the court. Remember, an ill-thought-out plan with little research and planning will not convince a judge that it is in a child’s best interest to be removed from the jurisdiction of Hong Kong.

Children’s Views In Divorce Proceedings

In litigated custody battles, clients frequently ask if their child can testify before the judge. However tempting this is, there are many factors to consider before placing your child into the front lines of a bitter divorce battle.

In Hong Kong, family court judges are cautious and historically, children’s views are only accepted through a social welfare report and/or any expert evidence such as a child psychologist. However, similar to what is being seen in the USA, Hong Kong courts are now recognizing the importance of a child’s view and it is being promoted.

In Hong Kong, as part of its obligations under Article 13 of the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child, the court will acknowledge that where a child’s interests are affected, a child’s viewpoint can be taken into consideration if that child is capable of forming his/her own views whether it be in person or through a representative. In practice, a child’s viewpoint is taken in the form of the following:

Judicial Interview: Under his/her own discretion, the judge may grant an interview and the mechanism for conducting an interview of a child. This interview is not for the purpose of gathering evidence (which is the responsibility of the social welfare report) but rather it is to enable a judge to listen to the views of a child.
Appointment of Legal Representative for the child: This is similar to what has been seen in California cases where a minor’s counsel is appointed under California Family Code section 3151 which allows the appointment of an attorney to look after a child’s best interests. Here in Hong Kong, the appointment of a legal representative for a child is pursuant to Rule 72 and 108 of the Matrimonial Causes Rules and the purpose is to reflect a child’s interests and not necessarily a child’s wishes. A legal representative for a child is not an automatic right and an unlikely appointment if a child’s view is adequately reflected and evidenced in a report before the court.

Whether a judge will allow your child’s views to be heard or not is dependent on a number of factors including: whether a child is suffering from harm due to access disputes; cases which are exceptionally difficult and involve foreign elements such as immigration or removal; an older child is opposing a proposed course of action; where there may be parental alienation from one or both of the parents; cultural and/or religious differences affecting a child; complex medical/mental health issues that need to be determined; serious allegations of physical, and mental or sexual abuse or in circumstances where neither parent seem to be suitable guardians.

Before a consideration is made with respect to allowing your child to testify or express his/her views to a court, you may want to ponder upon the following:

Is Your Child’s Testimony Necessary? Ask yourself tough questions including why you want your child to testify. What is the real reason? Can your child truly assist the judge to understand the circumstances in your home and how the custody arrangement is affecting your child? Generally speaking, there should be a strong reason behind having your child testify against the other parent rather than simply you wanting more custody time and/or harboring resentment/revenge against your ex-spouse.
What Are The Long-Term Effects On Your Child? Consider the long-term effects testifying will have on your child. A divorce is already a traumatizing experience for most children. It is even worse if the parents are engaged in a bitter and litigated custody battle. Consider factors such as whether it will be difficult for your child to testify because it will make him/her feel guilty for picking sides. You need to consider the psychological effects this will have on your child and how it will affect his/her relationship with your ex-spouse.

Remember that it is in your child’s best interests to have a healthy and communicative relationship with your ex-spouse, who is, after all, your child’s other parent. Allowing your child to testify will undoubtedly affect the relationship dynamic between you and your ex-spouse and your child. Also, try and determine why your child is expressing an interest in testifying.

In making any decision relating to your child, be sure to focus on what is in your child’s best interests and the right decision will follow.

Divorce and Children’s Welfare

Emotions run high in divorce, particularly when children are at stake. When parents are involved in a litigious battle over children, intense emotions of a parent dealing with change and loss may cloud his or her ability to separate emotions from the needs of a child. To deal with this reality, courts look to the welfare of a child when making orders regarding children and their future. The goal of the welfare of the child is the well-being of a child’s mental health, security, happiness and overall emotional development for future success. Often, the welfare of a child is closely intertwined with a close, loving and consistent relationship with both parents.

Ideally, the goal of all parents in divorce should be the best interests of a child. However, this is not always possible and this is when a court will step in to make these important decisions.

How Do Courts Determine The Welfare Of A Child?

In the United States of America, the welfare of a child is similar to the “best interests standard” where the courts will look to several factors when determining what is in the best interests of a child. In Hong Kong, there is no “best interests” standard per se. While there is no formal standard in place, glimpses of the standard are coming through Hong Kong court decisions. And the good news is that the standard is becoming embodied in a “welfare checklist” in a children’s ordinance bill which is currently under discussion and consideration. The “welfare checklist” includes questions the court will consider when making orders such as: the views of a child, the child’s physical, emotional and educational needs, family violence and the capability of a parent to meet the child’s needs. Keith Hotten, a barrister, mediator and matrimonial law professor in Hong Kong says “[The new legislation] brings Hong Kong into the modern world. The point of the new legislation is to bring focus onto parental responsibility, which is essentially joint custody.”

In Hong Kong, the welfare of the child is of paramount consideration when courts make decisions with respect to children. The welfare of the child is fact specific to each and every case. It is a broad standard, which is valuable because the court will look at many factors before making any major decisions regarding a child. Some factors the court may consider include the following: the preservation of the status quo; the ages of the parents and child; the personality, capability and character of the parents; the financial resources of the parents; the physical and mental health of the parents and child; the accommodation available to the child, the child’s own wishes and views if any, and if the child is at an appropriate age and maturity; the benefit of keeping the siblings together with one parent; the religion and culture of the family; and also professional reports such as medical, schooling or the court’s social welfare officer reports. It is important to note that this list is not exhaustive and are only a guideline of some of the factors the courts will take into consideration when considering the welfare of a child. Many times, the court will consider any and all factors it deems valuable in making an informed decision regarding the welfare of the child.

A Parent’s Role And A Child’s Best interests:

In a divorce, it is of utmost importance that parents consider what is in the best interests of their child when making decisions for the family post-divorce. It is also important for parents to be mindful of the fact that their actions will weigh heavily on a child, including behavior during the divorce. When it comes to separation and divorce, it can easily slip into a contest of which parent is acting more in the “best interests” of their child.” To avoid this type of conflict, parents should talk together and/or consider a parenting coach or mediation to assist when communication with each other is becoming difficult. A mediator or parenting coach can assist parents with effective communication and provide individuals with tools on how to communicate, think reasonably and rationally and manage emotions during a very difficult transition. Parents should also ask themselves key questions before making any major decisions such as: “How will this impact our child’s relationship with the other parent? How will this impact our child’s emotional and mental well-being? How will our child feel towards me in the long-term, if I reduce contact with the other parent?”

Overall, parents who work together and make the best decisions for their child are better off than when a court imposes an order on the family. With that goal in mind, look for a parenting expert or coach in Hong Kong. There are also many valuable resources available to you including co-parenting classes and co-parenting books. Finally, don’t forget to talk to a solicitor in Hong Kong for a resource list and tips on how to navigate this process!

How Is Child Maintenance Calculated?

Unlike spousal maintenance, the Court has wide discretion to allow maintenance for children at anytime prior to the decree or even if the proceedings are dismissed.

Generally speaking, in all matters relating to children in family proceedings, the welfare of the child/children is the first and paramount consideration of the Court. While each case will depend on its own facts, the Court, in making any determination with regard to financial orders for a child will take into account all relevant factors, which include:

the financial needs of the child;
the income, earning capacity (if any), property and other financial resources of the child;
any physical or mental disability of the child;
the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage;
the manner in which the child was being (and in which the parties to the marriage expected the child to be) educated;

The Court will generally endeavour to exercise its powers so as to place the child, so far as it is practicable (having regard to the above factors) in the financial position in which the child would have been if the marriage had not broken down and each of the parents had properly discharged his or her financial obligations and responsibilities towards the child. This will be different for every case depending on the parties’ standard of living during marriage, and the financial means of each parent.

Children’s maintenance will usually involve consideration of all expenses that may be incurred by them on a daily/monthly/annual basis, such as food, their share of housing expenses, education, extra-curricular activities, clothing, gifts, and holidays. A child’s financial needs will be interpreted on a generous basis by the Court.

Once the Court arrives at an appropriate figure to reflect the monthly expenses of the child, this will be made into an Order, such that the paying spouse must pay that amount every month going forward, usually until the child reaches 18, or finishes tertiary education, depending on what is prescribed in the Court order.

It is always open to either parent to apply to the Court to vary maintenance of a child (either to increase, decrease or suspend the amount) if there has been a change in circumstance, e.g. the decrease of income of the paying party, or the increase of a child’s expenses. The Court will then consider the matter afresh and revise the sum of maintenance if it sees fit to do so.

Aside from maintenance, the Court may, on an application by either of the parents (or guardian) who has custody of the child – may make any one or more of the following orders (having regard to the means of the paying parent):

a payment of a lump-sum to the applicant in one amount or by instalments for the immediate and non-recurring needs of the child.
transfer of such property to which either of the parents is entitled or
settlement of such property, to the child.

These other forms of financial maintenance for children are covered in separate articles on hongkongdivorce.com

What Is A Form J And Why Is It Important?

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