Vietnam: What is the newest applicable Law on Marriage and Family? What are the legislative documents guiding the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family?
What is the newest applicable Law on Marriage and Family in Vietnam?
On June 19, 2014, the National Assembly of Vietnam issued the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family regulating the marriage and family regime, legal standards for conduct by family members; responsibilities of individuals, organizations, the State and society in the building and consolidation of the marriage and family regime.
The Law on Marriage and Family applied in 2024 is the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 with 133 Articles contained in 9 Chapters.
Specifically, the titles of each chapter include the following:
- Chapter I: GENERAL PROVISIONS
- Chapter II: GETTING MARRIED
- Chapter III: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE, including the following sections:
+ Section 1: Personal rights and obligations
+ Section 2: Representation between husband and wife
+ Section 3: Matrimonial property regime
- Chapter IV: TERMINATION OF MARRIAGE, including the following sections:
+ Section 1: Divorce
+ Section 2: Marriage terminated as the spouse dies or is declared dead by the Court
- Chapter V: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN, including the following sections:
+ Section 1: Rights and obligations between parents and children
+ Section 2: Identification of parents and children
- Chapter VI: RELATIONS AMONG OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS
- Chapter VII: SUPPORT
- Chapter VIII: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY RELATIONS INVOLVING FOREIGN ELEMENTS
- Chapter IX: IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS
However, up to now, there has not been any information or document or draft on the promulgation of a new Law on Marriage and Family to replace the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family.
Thus, the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family is still applied in 2024.
What are the legislative documents guiding the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family in Vietnam?
The legislative documents guiding the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family in Vietnam (as of January 11, 2024) include:
- Decree 82/2020/ND-CP regulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of judicial assistance; judicial administration; Marriage and family; civil enforcement; bankruptcy of enterprises and cooperatives.
- Decree 98/2016/ND-CP amending a number of articles of Decree No. 10/2015/ND-CP providing for chilbirth by in vitro fertilisation and conditions for surrogacy for humanitarian purposes
- Joint Circular 01/2016/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BTP guiding the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family issued by the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court - Director of the Supreme People's Procuracy - Ministry issued by the Minister of Justice.
- Decree 123/2015/ND-CP guiding the 2014 Law on Civil Status.
- Decree 10/2015/ND-CP on giving birth through in vitro fertilization and conditions for altruistic gestational surrogacy
- Decree 126/2014/ND-CP guiding the implementation of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family.
What are the regulations on protection of the marriage and family regime in Vietnam?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, regulations on protection of the marriage and family regime in Vietnam are specified as follows:
- Marriage and family relations established and implemented in accordance with this Law shall be respected and protected by law.
- The following acts are prohibited:
+ Sham marriage or sham divorce;
+ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;
+ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person;
+ Getting married or cohabiting as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;
+ Demanding property in marriage;
+ Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;
+ Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;
+ Domestic violence;
+ Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.
- All acts of violating the marriage and family law shall be handled strictly in accordance with law.
Agencies, organizations and individuals have the right to request a court or another competent agency to take measures to promptly stop and handle violators of the marriage and family law.
- The honor, dignity, prestige, privacy and other privacy rights of parties shall be respected and protected in the course of settlement of marriage and family-related cases and matters.
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