Is it possible to authorize another person to participate in divorce proceedings in Vietnam? Is it possible to get divorce after losing the Marriage Certificate in Vietnam?

Is it possible to authorize another person to participate in divorce proceedings in Vietnam?

According to the current law, is the law allowed to authorize another person to participate in the divorce proceedings?

Reply:

In Clause 4, Article 85 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, it is stipulated:

4. The proxy representatives as defined in the Civil Code shall be the proxy representatives in the civil procedures.

For the divorce, the involved parties must not designate any other persons to participate in the procedure on their behalf. If parents or other relatives of the involved parties petition the Courts to resolve the divorce cases as prescribed in clause 2 Article 51 of the Law on marriage and family, they such be the representatives.

And in Clause 2, Article 51 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, it is stated that

2. A parent or another next of kin of a spouse has the right to request a court to settle a divorce when the spouse is unable to perceive and control his/her acts due to a mental disease or another disease and is concurrently a victim of domestic violence caused by his/her spouse which seriously harms his/her life, health or spirit.

=> According to the above provisions in Vietnam, it is not allowed to authorize another person to act on his/her behalf to participate in legal proceedings in a divorce case in case the involved party is a person with normal civil act capacity. And when a husband or wife has a mental illness (no civil act capacity), they are authorized to do so.

Is it possible to get divorce after losing the Marriage Certificate in Vietnam?

Hello! I have a question that I hope you can help answer as follows: My friend got married in 2015. When living together, the two people often had conflicts and quarrels. My friend wanted a divorce but found out that he had lost his Marriage Certificate and the court said that in this case it could not be resolved. So let me ask is there any way my friend can get a divorce in this case? Looking forward to hearing from you guys. Thank you and best wishes!

Reply:

According to the provisions of Article 51 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, husband or wife or both has or have the right to request a court to settle their divorce. For applying to the court for a divorce, your friend must prove that you are legally married. However, now that you have lost your marriage certificate, you need to first contact the commune-level People's Committee where you have registered your marriage before to apply for a re-issue. The application for re-issuance of a marriage registration certificate is prescribed by law as a procedure for "re-registration of marriage".

Clause 1, Article 24 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP guiding the Civil Status Law stipulates as follows:

1. Any birth, marriage, or death registration that has been granted at the competent authority of Vietnam before January 1, 2016 but the vital records or originals copies from vital records are lost shall be eligible for re-registration.

Thus, in order to resolve the divorce, the friend first needs to go to the People's Committee of the commune (be it the place where the marriage was registered before or the place where the friend is currently residing) to apply for re-issuance of the marriage registration certificate. This procedure is specified in Article 27 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

1. An application for marriage re-registration shall include:

a) An application form as prescribed;

b) A copy of the former marriage license. In case of absence from the copy of marriage license, a copy of the personal document relating to the marriage registration contents is also permitted.

2. Within 5 working days from the date on which the application is received, the civil status official shall verify it. If the marriage re-registration is sufficient, accurate, and consistent with regulations of law, the civil status official shall grant the marriage re-registration as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 18 of the Law on civil status.

If the application for marriage re-registration is submitted at the People’s Committee of a commune other than the commune which has granted the former marriage registration, the civil status official shall request the President of People’s Committee to request such the People’s Committee to verify the respective vital records.

Within 5 working days, from the date on which the request is received, the People’s Committee which has granted the former marriage registration shall verify and respond in writing that the vital records are whether kept.

3. Within 3 working days from the date on which verification results that the vital records are no longer kept in the commune where the marriage registration has been granted are received and the application is considered satisfactory and consistent with regulations of law, the civil status official shall grant the marriage re-registration as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article 16.

4. The marriage relationship shall be recognized from the date on which the former marriage registration was granted which is specified in the marriage license and vital records. If the day and month of former marriage registration is not identified, the marriage relati

After being re-issued with the Marriage Certificate, your friend can apply for divorce to the competent Court to request a divorce settlement with her husband in Vietnam.

Can I get quick divorce in Vietnam from my husband who is abroad?

My wife and I want to get a divorce, but he is currently abroad. If you can arrange to return to Vietnam for a month to do the procedures, is it possible? Because I heard that divorce is usually the fastest, it takes about 2-4 months. I hope you can help me.

Reply:

Article 55 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 provides:

When both spouses request a divorce, a court shall recognize the divorce by mutual consent if seeing that the two are really willing to divorce and have agreed upon the property division, looking after, raising, care for and education of their children on the basis of ensuring the legitimate interests of the wife and children. If the spouses fail to reach agreement or have reached an agreement which -fails to ensure the legitimate interests of the wife and children, the court shall settle the divorce.

Consent to divorce is a civil matter, so the procedure will be carried out in Chapter XXIII of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 in Vietnam.

According to this regulation, within 03 working days from the day on which the petition is accepted, the Court shall notify the petitioner, person with interests and duties relevant to the civil matter resolution and the procuracy of the same level in writing of the acceptance of the petition (Article 365 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015).

The time limit for preparation for petition consideration shall be 01 month from the day on which the Court accept the petition, unless there are other provisions in this Code (Article 366 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015).

Thus, the time to resolve the divorce agreement can be from 1 to 2 months or longer depending on the case in Vietnam. In case your husband has returned home for 1 month, it can also be resolved, you can file an application to wait until the Court conducts the conciliation procedures. Your husband must be present, if the conciliation and reunification fails, the judge will issue a decision on recognition of consensual divorce if it is found that: i) both parties really voluntarily divorce; ii) have reached an agreement on the division or non-division of common property, the care, upbringing, care and education of children; iii) the agreement must ensure the legitimate interests of the wife and children.

Best regards!