Any foreigners successfully structure a prenup in Taiwan?

Legal General Legal Matters
21

The Taiwanese courts have adjudicated many pre-nuptial agreements in Taiwan. Some have been completely enforced, other partially enforced, and other have been found to be invalid for varrious reasons. The effectiveness of your prenup has nothing to do with whether you are a foreigner or not. You can also sign post-nuptial agreements to transform community property into separate property or vice versa.

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22

I get your point. It is not likely to be fully effective for Taiwanese either. But, I believe there will be some degree of prejudice against foreigners amongst all involved in a contentious divorce. As a foreigner we are even more likely to find ourselves on the “less-enforced” side.

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23

I don’t think that’s true from the cases I have seen. In some cases, the foreigner had behaved pretty badly during the marriage and that did not help his/her case. I’ve see the Taiwanese spouse prejudice his/her case the same way.

There is a rule about child custody that really disfavors foreigners though. Custody is supposed to be awarded based on the best interests of the child. The Taiwanese courts overwhelming believe that it is in the best interest of a small child to be in this custody of his/her mother unless the mother is addicted to drugs, abused the child, or done something else heinous.

This is not an issue in property matters.

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24

Thanks for the reply. Child custody sounds like something the Taiwanese spouse could use for leverage.

Are you a practicing lawyer in Taiwan?

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25

They could get custody and then use the child as leverage to get alimony based on the previous lifestyle, it’s in the law: Civil Code - Chapter - Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (Taiwan)

“Where the innocent party of the husband and the wife is reduced to difficulties in livelihood on account of a judicial decree of divorce, the other party, even if he or she is also innocent, shall pay an equitable alimony.”

Which is fine if the father did something wrong, but otherwise, the alimony could also be incorrectly spent

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