HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Stephen Peaker, Yvonne Kong, Lauren Ng and Gabriel Yuen, Oldham, Li & Nie
ered to handle procedural work in family law proceedings. Pursuant to General Direction 1.1, Masters can handle applications to amend peti - tions, time extension and substituted service. In simple cases, Masters can also conduct children dispute resolution hearings and financial dispute resolution hearings where appropriate. The divi - sion of work has enhanced case management and efficiency within the family court. This has benefited court users, as there has been a short - ening of the timeline for fixing substantive hear - ings, which had to be fixed in a judge’s diary, which was often full. As a result of the new Fam - ily Masters system, the family judges can focus on hearing and adjudicating on more “substan - tive” matters (eg, jurisdiction, injunction, and joinder) while leaving procedural matters (such as amendments to the originating process and time extensions) to be dealt with by Masters. Furthermore, pursuant to General Direction 1.2, all initial hearings (ie, first appointments and children appointments) are to be listed before family court Masters, with the case only being transferred to a family judge when the case is ready for a case management hearing (CMH). As part of the family court’s mission to achieve better case management in family law proceed - ings, interlocutory applications such as expert evidence, joinder and specific discovery are now expected to be filed as early as possible and ideally dealt with before a CMH is fixed. This has had the added benefit of encouraging parties to settle earlier in order to avoid incurring further costs at a very early stage on taking out inter - locutory applications, which previously would have been filed later before the pre-trial review or the trial itself. An increasing number of clients are keen to con - sider mediation and other alternative forms of dispute resolution prior to the issue of the pro -
ceedings in an effort to save costs. Since the new Master system was introduced, more and more clients are keen to settle matters out of court before the proceeding, with fewer cases being contested. This is a welcome develop - ment, given the significant emotional and finan - cial strain fully contested divorce proceedings can have on the parties. Target timetabling has also been introduced as part of the overhaul of the family court system, with General Direction 1.2 setting out the target timetable for the conclusion of cases. In particu - lar, in cases involving both children and financial proceedings, family judges are encouraged to exercise strict and robust case management to ensure that short cases are dealt with within 23 months from the CMH, medium cases within 27 months from the CMH, and long cases within 32 months from the CMH. This has brought clarity for legal practitioners and enabled them to man - age clients’ expectations better. Overall, the new Masters system has shortened the waiting times for substantive court hearings and helped to bring clarity for court users. Thus, it gives reason to look forward to the full opera - tion of the rest of the Ordinance, which will be put in place gradually. This will hopefully result in a more unified and efficient process and rules for family law proceedings in Hong Kong. Deployment of electronic filing in the family court The Hong Kong judiciary had already recognised the need to modernise its system, including the Hong Kong Family Court, which is still conven - tionally paper-based and manually operated with limited deployment and usage of modern technology. On 17 July 2020, the Court Proceed - ings (Electronic Technology) Ordinance (Chap - ter 638) (the “Electronic Technology Ordinance”)
178 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook