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International marriage refers to marriage between a national citizen and a foreigner (inclusive of stateless persons), consisting of getting into international marriage and divorce.

Based on the PRC Laws, our national citizen and foreigner getting into marriage shall apply to the laws of the marriage place, and divorce shall apply to laws of court place accepting the case. To sum up, in case the parties of international marriage get into marriage or divorce in China, the Chinese laws shall be abided by.

For international marriage, generally the parties are rich and may have different property system relating to the marriage in their respective jurisdiction. So I suggest the parties intending to get into international marriage shall pay more attention to the property distribution issues before marriage.

According to the PRC Marriage Law, in the event there is no pre-agreement relating to the property system signed by the parties, then the principles under the law shall be applied, that is to say, the property obtained by one party before marriage shall still be owned by the one party after marriage instead of be owned by the couples. In the meantime, all the property obtained by  either party after marriage shall be owned by the couples, although maybe only one party makes endeavor for the property. However, the two parties may amend the distribution system in respect of pre-marriage property ownership and post-marriage property ownership, which can be totally different from the laws, that is to say, in case there is conflict between agreement and laws, the legal agreement shall prevail. It still strongly recommended that the agreement reached by the couples shall be notarized as it will make evidence more persuasive in the lawsuit.

Moreover, the custody right of kid and compensation after divorce can also be agreed by the parties but cannot be in breach of laws.

The heritage is another essential issue relating to the international marriage. According to the PRC Heritage Law, generally there are three rules:

a. For the Chinese citizen, who is supposed to get the heritage located overseas or the foreigner’s heritage within China, the movable property shall apply to the laws of the ancestor’s residential place, while the immovable property shall apply to the laws of the immovable property location.

b. For foreigner, who is supposed to get the heritage within China or the Chinese citizen’s heritage located overseas, the movable property shall apply to the laws of the ancestor’s residential place, while the immovable property shall apply to the laws of the immovable property location.

c. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned rules, the treaties and conventions signed by China and the foreign countries shall be of priority.
That is to say, in case there is no residential place or heritage in China, the Chinese court shall have no jurisdiction right.

Due the differences relating to the heritage in different jurisdiction and unpredictability for ascertaining the effectiveness of the wills made overseas, in order to make the wills enforceable, I, hereby, advice that you make a will in China for the property located in China according to the Chinese law, while, make a will in foreign country for the property located in the same country according to the law of the same country.

For further information on Chinese / foreign marriage and heritage and questions related to this topic please contact Anna YU directly or use our “As an Expert” form.