The Judge must determine exactly jurisdiction to resolve the case, both territorial jurisdiction and jurisdiction of each level of Courts.
Main tasks and practical skills:
- Disputes on divorce under jurisdiction of the Court: This jurisdiction shall be determined on the basis of the petition unilaterally filed by one party or mutually filed by both parties requesting to terminate a lawful marital relation (Item 1 of Article 27 of the CPC; Resolution No. 01/2005). There are the following types:
- Divorces with no dispute on bringing up the children, with no dispute on division of assets;
- Divorces with dispute on bringing up the children or with dispute on division of assets;
- Divorces with dispute on bringing up the children and division of assets;
- Mutually-agreed divorces but there is a dispute on bringing up the children or dispute on division of assets, or there is a dispute on bringing up the children and a dispute on division of assets.
- Territorial jurisdiction
- In general, territorial jurisdiction depends on the residential or working place of the defendant (Point a of Item 1 of Article 35 of the CPC);
- The litigants can reach a written agreement requesting the Court located at the residential or working place of the plaintiff to resolve the case (Point b of Item 1 of Article 35 of the CPC).
- Jurisdiction of each level of Courts: After more jurisdiction is granted to district People’s Courts, provincial People’s Courts shall resolve cases in one of the three following circumstances:
- A litigant of the case is in a foreign country;
- The asset in dispute is in a foreign country;
- It is necessary to grant judicial delegation to a Vietnamese consulate office in a foreign country or to a foreign Court.
- Jurisdiction as selected by the plaintiff
- The plaintiff can select to initiate a legal action at the Court located at the last residential or working place of the defendant if their residential or working place is unknown or if the defendant attempts to hide their address (Point a of Item 1 of Article 36 of the CPC);
- The plaintiff can select to initiate a legal action at the Court located at their own residential or working place if the defendant does not have any residential or working place in Vietnam (Point c of Item 1 of Article 36 of the CPC);
- A separate claim for maintenance.
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