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Ex-spouses Fare Better under Newly Changed Act
Family tribunals in Chinese courts have encountered more varied cases and been given greater leeway in handling divorce-related cases under the newly amended Marriage Law.
After years of nationwide debate and three rounds of deliberations by legislators, the amendments were adopted by the nation's top legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, on April 28. They were enacted the same day.
Although the number of divorce disputes only rises slightly, there are now many in which one seeks protection of parent rights and compensation from the spouse's disloyalty, said Liu Chao, a judge at Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court.
The amended Marriage Law, which incorporates clearer stipulations on such issues as the protection of parents' visitation rights, helps courts solve divorce-related cases more fairly, Liu said.
A middle-aged Beijing businessman filed suit in Liu's court last month, asking for visitation rights with his 6-year-old daughter, who is living with his ex-wife. He complained that he could only speak to his daughter by phone.
The man is seeking at least one weekend a month with his daughter.
The court granted his request because the amended Marriage Law clearly states that the bond between parents and their children should not be severed just because the parents divorce.
"Such cases were rarely seen before the law was amended because the original legislation had no clear stipulation to guarantee such rights,'' Liu said.
And cases of betrayed husbands or wives demanding -- and getting -- compensation from their spouses also are on the rise, following a new law stipulating that adulterers should be fined.
A woman in Dalian of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, for example, won a legal victory on Tuesday when a local court ordered her husband to payer 50,000 yuan (US$6,040) as compensation for his infidelity.
The woman filed for divorce after reading in her husband's diary that he had affairs with more than 180 women.
Women and children have gained the most under the amended law, which clearly bans domestic violence. But some men have been successful as well.
Wuhan Morning Post in Central China's Hubei Province reported that a 62-year-old man sued his 44-year-old wife in June over allegations of domestic violence and demanded a divorce.
Wuhan Hongshan District People's Court supported his claim, the paper said.
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