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Since 7th October,1971, a couple in Hong Kong can only validly marry in accordance with the Marriage Ordinance. This, generally means that it must be a voluntary union for life of one man with one woman to the exclusion of all others and that the marriage ceremony must be carried out at one of the Marriage Registries or licensed places of worship. This is called a registered marriage.

A foreign marriage celebrated outside Hong Kong in accordance with the law in force at the time and in the place where the marriage was performed is generally recognized as valid and similar to a marriage registered in Hong Kong.

However, apart from registered marriages and foreign marriages, the law also recognizes as valid 2 others types of marriages if they were contracted in Hong Kong before 7th October, 1971. The first type is customary marriage, that is, a marriage celebrated in accordance with the traditional Chinese customs accepted at the time of the marriage either in the part of Hong Kong where the marriage took place, or in the parties' family place of origin, usually their native place in China.

The other type is called a modern marriage. To be recognised as valid the marriage must, generally, involve a man and a woman each of whom was not less than 16 years of age at the time and was not married to any other person, plus an element of publicity, that is there were witnesses and in some cases open celebration after the marriage.

Since 7th October, 1971, no man can lawfully take a concubine in Hong Kong. But in the case of a customary marriage, concubines taken before that date will be recognised and their children will be considered legitimate.

Parties to these 2 latter types of marriage can have them post-registered at the Marriage Registry or if one party refuses to post-register it, the other may apply to the District Court for a declaration that such a marriage subsists and thereafter can post-register it unilaterally.

The divorce of parties to a registered marriage or a foreign marriage must go through the Family Court of Hong Kong. For other details of divorce, such as grounds of divorce, maintenance, custody of children etc., please call again after listening to this tape.

To obtain a divorce in a customary marriage situation, the party or parties must first of all have the marriage post-registered or declared valid by the District Court. If the parties agree to divorce they must go before a designated public officer who will explain to them the consequences and ask them to sign an agreement. If only one party wants a divorce, he or she can apply to court in the usual way but only after the registration or declaration of the marriage.

In the case of a modern marriage, if both parties agree, they can divorce by going before a designated public officer and by signing a written document before 2 witnesses which set out unequivocally the final and complete dissolution of the marriage.

Either party to these 2 types of marriages can, upon divorce, apply for maintenance if the need arises.

Date of amendment: 1st October 1992