Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 歡迎回來(lái)【閑話(huà)英倫】. Hi, 安瀾.

Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone.

In China we go to 民政局 for both getting married and getting divorced.

Yeah.

I know in the UK we talked about it for getting married. You have to go to like the council, sort of like the registry or like a civil...

You have to go to what is called the registry office.

The registry office.就登記大廳，就跟我們那個(gè)民政局差不多。

Yeah.

Is this the same place you go to when you want to get divorce?

No. No.

To get divorce, you can actually do it online or you can go to a family court.

Oh, I see, but either way you have to go to the court?

The court needs to grant the conditional offer and then you're given time, normally about I think it's 20 weeks before they finalize the divorce.

Is that a cool down period as well? 那個(gè)也是什么冷靜期嗎?

It’s normally a cool down period.

The idea of that period of time is to allow the husband and wife to discuss how best to proceed in terms of dividing assets.

Oh. The pragmatics.

It’s to allow them that time to plan what's gonna happen next. Because the reason why divorce can get very expensive is if both parties don't agree and then you get solicitors involved.

Lawyers.

Lawyers.

And both of you would get solicitors.

Exactly.

And then you fight for everything.

Yeah. And that's what can drag out a divorce case. So there are quite a few divorce cases where it's quite simple. They just say “okay, it's not working. You can take this, I'll take this, and that's it”. But obviously divorce sometimes it can't... divorce might not be that smooth.

Emm. Not that amicable.

Exactly.

This is what you were looking for.

Thank you.

But say, you don't want to get any solicitor. You shake on it and you say “okay. we get a divorce. That's fine. You have this. I have that. We have nothing to fight for. We don't have kids” and all that. If you don't get a solicitor, how much does the divorce cost?

It costs at least￡593.

That is very specific. It's oddly specific.

It is, but that's just for the court orders and for the certificate.

So you still have to go to the court.

You have to go before a court but it can be online or it can also be face to face.

That is a lot more expensive than a Chinese divorce, as the Chinese divorce is just that little booklet like a divorce certificate. By the way, do you get a divorce certificate?

We don't call it divorce certificate. We call it a final order or a decree absolute.

It sounds even more depressing than a divorce certificate if you ask me. 就是比離婚證 聽(tīng)起來(lái)感覺(jué)更悲慘更凄涼的感覺(jué).

But exactly the same as in China, you need to keep it, so that if you want to remarry or you need to prove your marital status, you need to show that document.

Wouldn't they keep your divorce on record though?

They would, but you also need to have a copy of it yourself as well.

I see. I see.

And now let's talk about, you remember what we're talking about, why divorces can be really nasty, can be really difficult in any country, is because division of assets and also custody.

Yes.

就是離婚為什么那么難? 一個(gè)原因是division of assets就是分割財(cái)產(chǎn), 還有一個(gè)就是custody, 如果有孩子的話(huà), 孩子的這個(gè)監(jiān)護(hù)權(quán), 撫養(yǎng)權(quán).

Yeah. So let's first of all, start with assets. So in the UK, assets are not automatically split 50% 50%.

This is the same in China, I think depends on we say過(guò)錯(cuò)方like who's, for example, who's been cheating.

Yeah.

Who's been committing domestic violence, for example.

Yeah, but remember that in the UK, divorce is no fault. So it's not that clear cut on how the assets are going to be divided.

So couples must agree on how to divide assets. If the couple doesn't agree, they can go through solicitors, they go through mediation, which is usually a free service. Or the final step is to ask for a judge to decide.

So the judge will personally decide.

Yes.

Oh, I see, but either way it will be a long, drawn out process I would assume.

Yes, it can be very very long and drawn out.

Emm, 安瀾do you understand the idea of prenup? A prenuptial就是婚前協(xié)議.

Yes, yeah.

Do people sign that in the UK based on what you know?

Ah, I don't know to be honest. I would say probably do. But whether or not it's legally binding, I'm not too sure.

安瀾 does not have enough assets to think about it.

I don't have enough assets to think about that. And also I should hasten to add, I'm not actually a lawyer or a solicitor.

Hahaha. All right, it's okay. It's just like, obviously we're talking about divorce these words just start popping up in my head.

Yes.

Yeah. Okay. So I was talking about prenup, 那個(gè)是婚前協(xié)議. And so that's assets and then the custody of a child, we talk about custody battle.

Yes.

孩子爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn). Do you have any, I would assume it's roughly the same, like if the kid is really, really young, then it will automatically go to the mother, unless proven otherwise.

No.

Really?!

No.

So even if it's like a baby?

If it's a baby, it can go to the husband or it can go to the mother.

Based on what?

Based on equality. So children don't automatically go to the mother, or they don't automatically go to the father. Parents have to decide on the custody of the child.

Wow, okay, that's interesting. And I'm assuming it’s whoever gets the child, the other spouse, the other partner would have to pay for child support.

Yes. There are calculations for child support, and you can go on the government website, and it actually has what they would consider to be the fair amounts. And if you can't agree on child support, then the state or a judge would decide for you. And it's normally gonna be the same calculations as on that website.

The other thing is, the word does not really factor in Chinese marriage law, which is alimony, 我知道可能很多聽(tīng)我們節(jié)目的小伙伴會(huì)對(duì)這個(gè)比較感興趣 ，就是alimony是對(duì)于前配偶的贍養(yǎng)費(fèi).

Yeah.

For example, after divorce, the man had to pay his ex-wife. We see this in movies TV shows all the time. It seems like many western countries have this alimony setting and the alimony can be extremely high.

In the UK we don't call it alimony, we call it maintenance, payments or maintenance support.

Maintenance support. 這個(gè)就是主要是給配偶，給前任配偶的這個(gè)贍養(yǎng)費(fèi)。

And I've done my little research actually for this, and don't ask me why, but I've just done it out of curiosity. And it seems that in the UK it's not necessarily just men paying to the women.

I guess you.... like you said, for equality, it could also be women to her ex-husband. It depends on many many different situations. I think based on my research, the reason why there is alimony, it is to acknowledge the other person's contribution during the period of the marriage.

Yes. In the UK, it's very common to have what we call clean breaks. So a clean break means that all financial ties are ended. They all just come to an end, spousal maintenance or maintenance support is only paid when one partner can't support themselves financially without it.

主要是兩個(gè)人經(jīng)濟(jì)懸殊特別大, 或者說(shuō)是離了婚之后, 較弱的那一方是完全沒(méi)有辦法生活下去, 估計(jì)是為了不成為政府的負(fù)擔(dān), 所以就要有這個(gè) alimony.

Yeah.

Either way, it's not as extreme as in some other countries.

No. No. So generally, if you've been together for a very, very, very long time, then probably the judge, if it gets to that level, then the judge will probably talk about spousal maintenance.

I see. And before we wrap this very long and slightly depressing topic up. Two more questions though, the first one is gay marriage is legal in the UK, right?

Yes.

Does that mean like a gay couple would have to go through exactly the same divorce procedures?

Exactly the same, sex marriage in the UK is completely legal and same sex divorce as well. It's exactly the same principle.

Okay. The other thing is, you know, that in China, there's a lot of controversy around this whole cool down period, 中國(guó)新婚姻法里面這個(gè)冷靜期, 相信安瀾也聽(tīng)到過(guò)。

Yeah.

So people have been having these controversial debates about it, mainly because they're asking what happens when one person is committing domestic violence within a marriage. What happens in the UK when that happened? Can divorce be granted immediately?

Divorce can't be granted immediately. But restraining orders and police action....

Oh.

can take place. So for example, if a man or woman are a victim of domestic violence, then what happens is the police can get involved. The other party can be arrested, or the judge can decide that a restraining order should be in effect.

所以如果有domestic violence家暴的情況下, 就可能會(huì)有restraining order, 就是這個(gè)叫禁制令, 意思就是說(shuō)to keep this violent spouse away from you legally， to protect you, to protect your rights.

Yes.

Okay. And thank you for answering all my questions. I'm not gonna ask you to leave any comments about your own experience, because it's purely personal. But if you have any further questions, please leave a comment in the comments section. I'm sure 安瀾 will do the research and answer.

Yes. I hasten to add I'm not actually a solicitor or a lawyer, so please do not listen to any advice that I give.

I'm pretty sure people won't.

I hope so.

All right, on that note, we're going to wrap up this episode. And thank you 安瀾 for coming to the studio. And we'll see you next time.

Bye.

Bye.