香港法院：离婚夫妇财产均分 Hong Kong court rules divorcing couples must split assets equally
Hong Kong’s highest court has ruled that divorcing couples should receive an equal share of assets in most cases, in a landmark ruling lawyers say could trigger a rush of “big money” divorce cases. | 香港终审法院裁定，在大多数离婚案件中，夫妻双方应平均分配财产。律师们认为，这项具有里程碑意义的裁定，可能会引发大额离婚案热潮。 |
A three-judge panel decided on Friday that an unidentified 47-year-old woman, who stopped working after marrying a Hong Kong businessman in 1996, was entitled to receive half of her ex-husband’s assets, or HK$2.68m (US$346,000). Their childless marriage ended in 2003. | 由三位法官组成的小组上周五裁定，一起离婚案中的女方有权获得前夫一半的财产，价值268万港元（合34.6万美元）。这位47岁的女性1996年与一位香港商人结婚后就不再工作。二人2003年离婚，婚内未育有子女。 |
“To confine a non-working wife’s award to the sum needed to meet her ‘reasonable requirements’ and to permit the husband to keep the remaining assets is patently unfair and discriminatory,” Justice Roberto Ribeiro wrote in a Court of Final Appeal judgment. | 李义法官(Justice Roberto Ribeiro)在终审法院判决书中写道：“将对家庭主妇的补偿局限于满足其‘合理要求’所需的金额，显然有失公平且具有歧视性。” |
The latest decision puts Hong Kong’s divorce law in line with that of England and Wales, where estranged wives are entitled to half of their spouse’s wealth following a court ruling in 2000. | 这项最新裁决使得香港的离婚法律与英格兰和威尔士趋于一致——根据2000年一项法庭裁定，在英格兰和威尔士，离婚时女方有权获得配偶一半的财产。 |
This has since led to a procession of huge multi-million pound divorce awards for ex-wives. | 自那以来，英格兰和威尔士出现了一系列前妻获得赔偿数百万英镑的巨额离婚案件。 |
Mark Harper, partner at Withers, said: “It does mean that Hong Kong could now really become the divorce capital of this part of Asia because a spouse only needs to have a substantial connection with Hong Kong to be able to file for divorce there. | 卫达仕(Withers)律师事务所合伙人马克•哈珀(Mark Harper)说：“这的确意味着，香港如今确实可能会变成亚洲这片地区的离婚圣地，因为只要一方配偶与香港有重要关系，就能在那里提起离婚。” |
“If an entrepreneur has businesses in mainland China and wealth in Hong Kong, their spouse could easily file for divorce in Hong Kong,” he said. | 他说：“如果一位企业家在内地有业务，在香港有财产，其配偶就能很容易地在香港提出离婚。” |
“Also many businessmen have factories on the mainland and their wives and children often live in Hong Kong.” | “还有很多商人在内地拥有工厂，但妻子和孩子常常住在香港。” |
Friday’s ruling upheld a lower court judgment in 2008. Then the wife, a former mainland China citizen and graduate of a top Chinese university, successfully appealed against a 2006 court decision that awarded her one-third of her ex-husband’s assets. | 本案中女方曾为中国内地居民，毕业于一所中国最好的大学。2006年法院判决女方获得前夫财产的三分之一，但她在2008年提起的上诉成功驳回了原判。上周五的裁定维持了上诉裁决。 |
“The Court of Final Appeal has finally reaffirmed that any discrimination against non-earning wives are washed away,” said Peter Barnes, the wife’s attorney. | 女方辩护律师彭思杰(Peter Barnes)表示：“终审法院终于重申，对家庭主妇的任何歧视都应取消。” |
Jonathan Mok, partner at Mayer Brown JSM, said the ruling was likely to lead to more pre-nuptial agreements in Hong Kong, where large sums of family money are often brought into marriages, usually by the husbands. | 孖士打(Mayer Brown JSM)律师行合伙人莫子应(Jonathan Mok)指出，由于婚姻中经常会涉及大笔的家族财产（通常是男方家族），这项裁定可能会造成更多香港人签订婚前协议。 |
“Pre-nups allow couples to decide on their own . . . how their future matrimonial assets can be divided rather than leaving it to the courts,” he said. | 他说：“婚前协议可以让夫妻双方自行决定……将来如何分割婚内财产，而不用留给法院解决。” |
Mr Harper of Withers agrees: “Given the colossal amount of wealth being created here at the moment, anyone who has links with Hong Kong . . . will need to think about having a pre-nuptial agreement.” he said. | 卫达仕的马克•哈珀对此表示赞同：“鉴于现在这里创造着巨大的财富，任何与香港有关联的人……都有必要考虑签署婚前协议。” |
Although pre-nups are not legally binding in the city and have never been tested in courts, Mr Mok said that following the lKatrin Radmacher ruling in London, any question about their validity would probably be decided by the Hong Kong courts on the same basis in the UK. | 虽然婚前协议在香港并无法律效力，在法院也从未有过判例，但莫子应表示，根据伦敦对卡特琳•拉德马赫(Katrin Radmacher)案的判决，香港法院可能会基于与英国相同的原则，对有关婚前协议效力的问题做出判决。 |
Last month, the UK’s Supreme Court upheld a pre-nup jointly signed by Ms Radmacher, a German industrial heiress, and her ex-husband Nicolas Granatino, a former investment banker. | 上个月，英国最高法院支持了德国实业继承人拉德马赫女士与前夫——前投资银行家尼古拉•格拉纳蒂诺(Nicolas Granatino)共同签署的婚前协议。 |
The Radmacher judgment means pre-nups are likely to be given “decisive weight” by judges in “big money” divorce cases. | 拉德马赫案的判决意味着，法官在大额离婚案件中会给予婚前协议“决定性的权重”。 |
Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal also made clear that the equal-sharing principle might not always apply. | 香港终审法院还明确表示，平均分配原则并非永远适用。 |
In another judgment handed down on Friday, the court ruled that the ex-wife of a local tycoon’s son should only get HK$11.9m, or about one-third of their assets, owing to the shortness of their marriage. | 在上周五判决的另一个案件中，法庭裁决，由于婚姻存续时间短暂，一位本地大亨之子的前妻只能得到1190万港元，约为夫妻财产的三分之一。 |
The couple were in an “on and off” relationship for 12 years before they got married in 1997 in Las Vegas. | 这对夫妻1997年于拉斯维加斯结婚，之前的12年间曾经几度分手。 |
Their “turbulent” marriage ended in 2000 when the 45-year-old wife left Hong Kong – where the couple were living in her parents-in-law’s four-storey, 20,000 sq ft mansion – for her home country, Malaysia, and did not return. | 他们“动荡的”婚姻于2000年宣告结束，45岁的妻子离港返回祖国马来西亚，然后再也没有回过香港。在香港期间二人居住在男方父母家2万呎的四层别墅中。 |
After being awarded HK$9.2m, or one-fourth of total assets, from a lower court in 2007, she appealed and was later given about 40 per cent. The 43-year-old husband appealed against that ruling. | 2007年，区域法院判决女方可获得920万港元，相当于总财产的四分之一。女方提起上诉，可获资产比例提高至40%。但43岁的丈夫又继续提起上诉。 |
| 译者/王柯伦 |
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