It is sad that to date the whole world is still clouded by the Covic-19 pandemic, and we have all had a hard time for the virus.
Though China was initially hit hardest early January and February, the country has however miraculously contained the virus quickly and effectively. Consequently, after a period of stringent…
The highly expected Civil Code of People’s Republic of China (“the Civil Code”) was adopted by the 13th National People’s Congress (” NPC “) on May 28, 2020 and will take effect on January 1, 2021, in which Part V is “The Marriage and Family”. Upon the implementation of the Civil Code, the current China Marriage Law will be repealed simultaneously,…
This question has been raised frequently over time. A recent inquiry was from a client in UK who has a couple of real properties in China. Upon working on his estate planning, he wondered whether he should write a single will covering both his UK and China assets or write a separate will for China assets. By the way, the inquirer is British, domiciled and habitually…
Right of residence? Something you may have not heard of before in China. It is no wonder since this new legal concept is just recently created in China Civil Code, which has yet to take effect on January 1, 2021.
I. What is Right of Residence?
First, right of residence is a right in real properties, and to be more specific, a right created in…
Cross-border marriages are no longer rare in China, so are cross-border divorces in China.
People who are about to get married have increasingly used pre-nuptial agreements to plan for their financial life after marriage. We have helped quite a few clients draft such pre-nuptial agreements.
However, please note post-marriage nuptial agreement may be void…
To many, estate planning is just a part of family law practice having little involvement of corporate and investment laws. It is no longer true in today’s world when clients often have their major assets in the form of ongoing businesses, i.e., companies or corporations.
I. Why Round-Trip Investment Is Relevant
There has been growing demand among Chinese…
We have written a lot of posts related to inheritance of real estate (real properties) in China. Frequently, we get inquiries about and deal with inheritance of personal properties such as stock/equity interests in a company or bank deposits/cash in China.
It is worth a separate post because the rules regarding inheritance of personal properties are quite…
On May 28, 2020, China has just enacted its first Civil Code, to be effective as from January 1, 2021, a long-awaited legislation that aims to codify China’s fragmented civil laws. Brought under its umbrella are China Civil General Provisions (Chapter I), China Property Law (Chapter II), China Contract Law (Chapter III), China Personal Right Law (IV),…
Recently we are dealing with two interesting cross-border divorce cases. The parties to the divorce don’t have habitual residence in China but they have real properties situated in China that need to be divided and partitioned. An interesting legal issue regarding the choice of applicable law appears here that doesn’t seem to be clear in judicial…
On January 17, 2020, China State Tax Administration (CSTA), issued an announcement regarding personal income tax on income sourced from overseas by its tax residents.
A few takeaways from the announcement.
I. China Tax Residents
As the same with definitions of other jurisdictions, a tax resident of one country doesn’t have to be the citizen of that …
I have written quite a few posts back in regard of foreigners inheriting estates in China:
How a foreigner inherit properties in China
Inherit Personal Properties in China
China Estate Planning: how to Deal with Your China Assets Generally
There are quite a few more articles in that regard, pls use the blog search function to locate them.
None of those posts have…
My second video on YouTube channel (China Family and Business Laws) talking about how a foreigner or Chinese living outside of China should consider when they make a will for their assets in China.
I am still trying to accept my own voices and sounds when I find a bit strange. 🙂
Ok, here is the link if you wish to listen, and you are welcome to subscribe this Channel …
I know I should have done this much earlier, as part of my digital marketing efforts. However, to launch a YouTube channel posting videos is so much different from just writing posts esp when I have to speak English in the video.
But I understand a live person in the video will present a much better impression on audience. People who may need our help may have serious…
As you know from posts on this blog, we deal a lot with inheritance issues on behalf of foreign clients with respect to estate properties in China. Very often, such inheritance of properties (typically real estate properties) will end up in a co-ownership of the properties by two or more heirs or beneficiaries. Well, if the co-owners are on good terms, everything…
Years ago, when I talked with a foreign lawyer friend who used to work in China law firm about cross-border divorces, he mentioned about his parents divorcing across USA-Israel borders, emphasizing the importance of choosing the favorable jurisdiction to litigate. When I started to focus more on cross-border family laws, I have …
It is not a rare phenomenon: your elderly parents in China is being taken care of by a remote relative while you are overseas; after your parent dies and you think of carrying out inheritance of the estate properties (real estates, bank deposits), to your big shock, that relative (whether cousin or someone else) produces a will out of the blue which says that your…
Very often we get inquiries from foreigners pertaining to purchase of China properties in the name of their Chinese girlfriend or wife for the reason that they are not qualified to purchase properties in China (China has placed restrictions on foreigners buying properties in China ever since 2006). But they are concerned about losing the property once their…
With more and more foreigners working and living in China, we have received quite a number of inquiries from foreigners in China who wish to divorce in China with their spouses who are also foreigners.
But what is the take of Chinese courts regarding jurisdiction over such cases? In other words, if such a case is submited to China courts for resolution, will China…
We are approached by a potential client inquring about an interesting situation: he and his mom are both living in Hong Kong, but his mom was actually incapacitated for some time and virtualy bedridden; now his mom has a property in down town Shanghai, French Concession Area, worth millions of dollars; he wants to sell the property to suppport the family and his…
I have to say congratulations to our own team! We have just closed a great deal for our client in selling their house in downtown Shanghai, the French Concession Area （法租界）.
The three-story house is the client’s ancetral property that has been built for almost 100 years, a western styled building in the best location of Shanghai. What’s more, this…
