16th November 2010

A divorce settlement ruling made at the highest level of Hong Kong's justice system has been heralded as a "landmark ruling" according to the Associated Press news agency.

Judges in Hong Kong have ruled in a test case that the un-named non-working female spouse of a man with around 2.68 million Hong Kong dollars (£215,000) worth of assets is entitled to half.

Originally, the divorce settlement ruling in 2006 would have seen the woman receiving just a third of the couple's combined wealth. However, the wife appealed and in 2008 a lower court judgement upheld her claim.

The Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong has now ruled that this decision should stand.

Hong Kong's Justice Roberto Ribeiro said in his judgement, "To confine a non-working wife's award to the sum needed to meet her 'reasonable requirements' and to permit the husband to keep the remaining assets is patently unfair and discriminatory."

The woman's divorce solicitor said, "It's a landmark ruling.

"Any remnants of discrimination against non-earning persons, usually being the wife, are now being firmly washed away,"

The court noted, however, that not every divorce settlement case would see a non-working spouse entitled to a 50/50 split of assets.

In the same court, on the same day, it was ruled that "the shortness and relatively unproductive nature" of a three-year marriage between the son of a local tycoon and his wife meant that her entitlement to only a third of the assets was enforced.