I need some advice on what happens in this situation…
My wife and I have kids and have been living overseas for several years. We want to get divorced. She wishes to return to Taiwan and I wish to remain here. She has her life plans which require more freedom so she is fine to grant me full custody and the children remain overseas with me since they are happy in their schools and life here.
It seems like it will be an uncontested divorce and we are on friendly terms at the moment.
She is going back to Taiwan shortly and I suggested I would fly back with her to file for divorce.
The children are on her household registration. I have an APRC. Do the children need to be/should be removed from her household registration? Can I have my own household registration with my kids on it?
Any advice on making sure the kids stay safe with me overseas? Btw, her parents live near us overseas and support me having full custody.
I just don’t know what happens if my wife one day wakes up and wants to be vindictive against me and tries to get the children out of spite… (She is not really the traditional motherly type, she even left them to travel and have fun for several months when they were younger. So kids really aren’t her priority.)
If the kid is overseas for more than 2 years their household registration is with the government, there’s no need to remove it. Should they decide to return to Taiwan later in life they will have to move it to an actual address and their NHI will start 6 months after that. This does not affect their citizenship either (as in they do not become NWOHR and their passport will have an ID number).
I know this because I returned to Taiwan as an adult after being overseas for decades and it’s only a matter of going to a household registration office and register.
You can’t have your own household registration as you are not a citizen, they will have theirs. If they are not in Taiwan it doesn’t matter, once they return to Taiwan as an adult they will either be on the mother’s HHR or will have their own.
No. Only citizens can have household registration. Foreigners who are spouses are a merely noted as such on the HHR.
With divorce you would be removed from household registration but it will not affect your APRC.
I had joint custody where my son could choose which parent to live with after he was ten years old so he lived with me in Taiwan while his taiwanese mother lived in Australia.
It’s good when you can have a friendly separation. A friend of mine recently same as you his wife wanted a single life so he had the kids and they recently left Taiwan to continue schooling abroad.
Why not? My friend brings his children back to Taiwan on their foreign passports on visa free entry not on ROC passports. Also their foreign passport names are not the same as the ROC passport names. Pretty common with foreigners married to ROC citizens where the foreign passport uses the surname of the foreign parent.
Well for some many people their children’s name on the foreign passports are not the same as on their ROC passports. Often the Chinese name used on ROC passport from ROC partner and a different foreign name on the foreign passports. You were with me when I had to sign passport photos for a friend whose children use different names from the foreign parent on the foreign passport than their ROC passport Chinese names from ROC parent.
Anything can be written in the divorce agreement. Once you agree to it you can have it witnessed at the HHR office and they will stamp it, photocopy it and make it into a legal document. They will also maintain a copy there.
I had joint custody written into mine and also had where my son could choose which parent to live with when he turned 10. You can have a private divorce agreement registered at a court in the USA, then have the document translated into Chinese and notarized by the TECO office in the USA. Then have that registered in Taiwan.
I assume you will do the divorce in Taiwan first and not your home country?
Why not do the divorce in your country then use that to file the divorce here?
Anyway if amicable then as long as you are sure. Also note there is sole custody and also access. In many countries sole custody alone does not prevent the other parent from access or visitation rights to children.
Very important perhaps for you to talk to a lawyer in Taiwan. @Marco has one he recommends who grew up overseas and works in his fathers law firm with local lawyers. So communication is not an issue. Understanding how to phrase your divorce in Chinese is very important as the courts here will ignore English and use the Chinese written in a divorce agreement.
We aren’t officially registered as married in this country. Also, to get divorced here, you need to be separated for 2 before applying for a divorce… So Taiwan is the straightforward and fastest solution.
I don’t mind her having visitation or access when she comes to back to visit.
What other items should I specify on the agreement?
