In April this year, when the Huadu District Court of Guangzhou City tried a family loan dispute case, the couple who were making a divorce fought in court (picture provided by the court)
Guangdong issued the procedures for trial of divorce cases, and there are complete regulations on the cooling-off period of divorce and the declaration of divorce property
Jinyang.com reporter Dong Liu, correspondent Chen Honglian, Liu Shidan,
Yesterday, the Guangdong Higher People's Court issued the "Guidelines for the Procedures for the Trial of Divorce Cases in Guangdong Courts" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"). The "Guidelines" are divided into six parts and forty-seven articles, and propose many innovative systems that are at the forefront of the country: it creatively proposes to distinguish the divorce cooling-off period into emotional constraint cooling-off period and emotional repair cooling-off period, and stipulates different starting conditions and applicable rules; it also creatively proposes to divide the divorce property declaration into three types: comprehensive declaration, special declaration and supplementary declaration, and clarifies different starting and applicable conditions, stipulating that the parties refuse to declare property or deliberately fail to truthfully declare, and will face the consequences of not dividing or dividing the common property.
The Guidelines stipulate: " grassroots people's courts should set up family trial courts or trial teams to specifically hear divorce cases"; "Judges who hear divorce cases should give priority to selecting personnel with rich mediation experience and marital knowledge and psychological knowledge"; "In addition to judge assistants and clerks, the trial assistants for divorce cases also include family mediators, family investigators, and professionals engaged in psychological assessment and counseling."
According to statistics, there are currently 18 independent family trial courts (family juvenile courts) in the province, and 12 people's courts that specifically hear family cases. There are more than 800 registered family investigators and more than 1,400 family mediators in the province, and the work team covers 21 prefecture-level cities across the province.
Tan Ling, vice president of the Guangdong Provincial High Court, said that during the emotional repair cooling period, the "Guidelines" stipulates the system for parties to perform emotional repair plans, form a complete understanding of the divorce cooling period, and make systematic provisions; in terms of divorce property declaration, the "Guidelines" stipulates that when the scope of common property requested by the parties is inconsistent, the people's court may require a variety of types of divorce property declarations, such as comprehensive declarations, special declarations and supplementary declarations, which will effectively prevent the phenomenon of concealing common property.
The Guidelines will come into effect on the date of publication.
According to statistics from the Guangdong High Court, in the past three years, courts across Guangdong Province have concluded nearly 200,000 family cases, and family trials have been stable and improving.
From the perspective of the quality and efficiency of the court's case handling reform, from 2016 to 2017, the closing rate of was 90.1%, the adjustment and withdrawal rate was 54%, the waiting and refusal rate was 84%, and the development and reform rate was 5%. Compared with before the reform, the case settlement rate, adjustment and withdrawal rate were both increased, and the appeal rate and the development and reform rate were both decreased. ”
Highlights
If the trial is not calm, a 20-day cooling-off period can be set up.
The Guidelines stipulate: In the trial of divorce cases, the court can set a cooling-off period of a certain period of time in order to encourage the parties to restrain their emotions and make rational lawsuits, or to help the parties repair their emotions and maintain their marriage.
The Guidelines clarify two types of cooling-off periods—the emotional constraint cooling-off period and the emotional repair cooling-off period.
The Guidelines stipulate: The parties are too excited during the trial and cannot express their opinions rationally. The court believes that If the continued court session will significantly intensify the conflict, it may decide to set an emotional constraint cooling-off period. The period for the court to set an emotional constraint cooling-off period shall not exceed 20 days. After the period ends, the trial shall continue. The court may persuade the parties during the emotional constraint cooling-off period, or invite professionals to conduct psychological intervention and guidance.
. Regarding the emotional repair cooling-off period, the "Guidelines" stipulate that one party requesting a divorce is temporarily unwilling to accept mediation, and the other party clearly makes a promise to actively repair the emotional repair. If the court believes that the two parties are indeed likely to reconcile, it may decide to set an emotional repair cooling-off period. The period for the court to set an emotional repair cooling-off period shall not exceed 60 days.
Both circumstances require parties to declare property
According to the "Guidelines", if the scope of common property requested by the parties in a divorce case is inconsistent, or if there is a situation where "the basic living security involves the parties without civil capacity or minor children, and the property status that needs to be determined", the court may require the parties to declare divorce property within the specified period.
Divorce property declaration includes comprehensive declaration, special declaration and supplementary declaration. The court may require the parties to make one or more declarations based on the needs of ascertaining facts. If a court requests a declaration, it shall require the parties to sign a truthful declaration of property guarantee letter in accordance with the provisions of the judicial interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law.
According to regulations, divorce property declaration forms and relevant evidence shall be presented in court and the parties shall cross-examine each other.
Comprehensive declaration of property includes 11 categories of property
The Guidelines stipulate that if the court requires a comprehensive property declaration, both parties shall declare that all property obtained in their respective or joint names during the period of marriage, and are still in their respective or joint names. The scope of property declared by
includes: 1. Income from wages, housing provident fund, bonuses, allowances, subsidies, etc.; 2. Real estate such as land and real estate; 3. Vehicles, valuable private goods, etc., movable property, such as large value; 4. Bank deposits; 5. Production and operating income such as rent, government allowances, rural collective organization dividends; 6. Equity and its income; 7. Securities such as stocks and funds; 8. Investment insurance; 9. Income from intellectual property; 10. Property inherited or donated; 11. Other property or rights that belong to the joint ownership of the husband and wife according to law.
The claims and debts enjoyed and borne by the parties in their respective or common names shall be declared together. The term for the court to issue a comprehensive property declaration shall not exceed 20 days. According to the application of the parties, it can be appropriately extended.
Hidden common property can require a special declaration
The Guidelines clearly state that if the parties apply for investigation and collect evidence of common property outside the scope of the other party’s request, but if there is little dispute over the scope of the common property, the court may require the other party to make a special declaration on the current situation of the property.
If the party applies for investigation and collecting evidence of the other party hiding, transferring, selling, or damaging the common property. If there are relatively clear and sufficient clues, the court may require the other party to make a special declaration on the changes in the property within the designated period (not limited to the period after the party’s first lawsuit for divorce, but generally not more than two years).
The term for the court to issue special property declaration shall not exceed 10 days. According to the application of the parties, it can be appropriately extended.
If you have any objections to the declaration, you may request a supplementary declaration
According to the "Guidelines", if the parties have objections to the property declaration of the other party and apply for investigation and collection of evidence on the objection, the court may require the other party to make a supplementary declaration of the objection. The period for the court to designate additional property declaration shall not exceed 5 days. According to the application of the parties, it can be appropriately extended. If the parties fail to apply for investigation and collect evidence on objections to property declaration, or refuse to make additional declarations, the divorce property declaration shall be terminated.
Refusal or fails to truthfully declare
Will not divide or subtract property
1 After the divorce property declaration is terminated, the court shall investigate and collect evidence for the objection to the declaration.
The evidence collected by the court shall be presented in court and the parties shall cross-examine each other. If the parties refuse to make additional declarations, and after verification, it is concealed, missed or underreported, it shall be deemed to be intentionally untrue.
If you refuse to declare property or deliberately fail to declare truthfully, the consequences will be serious. According to the "Guidelines", if the parties refuse to declare property, the court shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Marriage Law, make no distinction or less dividends of the common property that exceeds the scope of their request; if the parties deliberately fail to declare property truthfully, the court shall make no distinction or less dividends of the common property that they have not declared truthfully in accordance with the law.
In addition, if the parties hide, transfer, sell or damage part of the common property after the first lawsuit for divorce, which makes it indivisible, the court shall divide the common property without or less in accordance with the law when dividing the common property.
