It is now very common to see families in which mum lives with the children on the mainland while dad works most of the time in Hong Kong, or the other way round. Spouses will often have permanent Hong Kong ID cards and their children may have been born here. Such couples will often have property and investments on the mainland, Hong Kong and elsewhere. So if the marriage breaks down (government statistics show that of the 19,000 divorce decrees granted in 2011, one third involved a party from the mainland) spouses start thinking about where they should file their divorce, should any disputes arise over assets.
There a few factors to bear in mind:
Hong Kong is a common law jurisdiction where judges have wide discretion. Because fairness is the overriding principle here and courts view an equal division of assets as a reasonable starting point - although it is not a given - Hong Kong has been the forum of choice for the financially weaker party, normally the wife. The court must look at all the case's circumstances and will take all assets into account.
The mainland, however, has a codified system based on the Marriage Act. There is a distinction between joint and separate property. Separate property includes premarital property and properties owned solely by one party by inheritance or gift. This may include the matrimonial home, especially when it is bought with the parents' money. With jointly owned property, the court will usually adopt an equal division approach, unless there are grounds, such as adultery, to depart from this principle.
Prenuptial agreements are enforceable on the mainland, while in Hong Kong they are only one of the factors to be taken into account, albeit an increasingly important one.
In Hong Kong there is an obligation on parties to give full and frank financial disclosure. This would even include such items as jewellery and expensive watches and handbags. Hong Kong has a more comprehensive process, by way of questionnaires, to investigate both spouses' finances.