On the morning of 25 Aug. 2022, the Shenzhen Family Trial Center Involving Hong Kong-Macao-Taiwan and Foreign Factors (深圳涉外涉港澳台家事审判中心, hereinafter the “Family Court”) within Longhua Primary People’s Court of Shenzhen trialed its first cross-border family law dispute.
The above-mentioned dispute is a divorce case, with a Hong Kong resident as the plaintiff. Considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the judge, with the consent of both parties, held the hearing at the Internet Tribunal of the Family Court. The hearing was conducted online via an applet called ‘Shenzhen Mobile Mini Court’, enabling the plaintiff in Hong Kong to participate in the proceedings.
The Family Court was established on 6 July 2022 within Longhua Primary People’s Court of Shenzhen. It has jurisdiction over all foreign, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan-related family cases in Shenzhen.
In recent years, the Chinese government has tended to authorize some courts to exercise centralized jurisdiction over a specific type of cases within a particular territory, which goes beyond the tradition of territorial jurisdiction to some extent.
Photo by Filippo Cesarini on Unsplash