Hong Kong Ordinances

MATRIMONIAL PROCEEDINGS AND PROPERTY ORDINANCE - SECT 7

Matters to which court is to have regard in deciding what orders to make under sections 4, 5 and 6

(Past version on 30/06/1997).

(1) It shall be the duty of the court in deciding whether to exercise its
powers under section 4, 6 or 6A in relation to a party to the marriage and, if
so, in what manner, to have regard to the conduct of the parties and all the
circumstances of the case including the following matters, that is to say-

   (a)  the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources
        which each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in
        the foreseeable future;

   (b)  the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities which each of
        the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the
        foreseeable future;

   (c)  the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of
        the marriage;

   (d)  the age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the
        marriage;

   (e)  any physical or mental disability of either of the parties to the
        marriage;

   (f)  the contributions made by each of the parties to the welfare of the
        family, including any contribution made by looking after the home or
        caring for the family;

   (g)  in the case of proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage, the
        value to either of the parties to the marriage of any benefit (for
        example, a pension) which, by reason of the dissolution or annulment
        of the marriage, that party will lose the chance of acquiring.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (3), it shall be the duty of the court in
deciding whether to exercise its powers under section 5, 6 or 6A in relation
to a child of the family and, if so, in what manner, to have regard to all the
circumstances of the case including the following matters, that is to say-

   (a)  the financial needs of the child;

   (b)  the income, earning capacity (if any), property and other financial
        resources of the child;

   (c)  any physical or mental disability of the child;

   (d)  the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of
        the marriage;

   (e)  the manner in which he was being and in which the parties to the
        marriage expected him to be educated; and so to exercise those powers
        as to place the child, so far as it is practicable and, having regard
        to the considerations mentioned in relation to the parties to the
        marriage in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection

(1), just to do so, in the financial position in which the child would have
been if the marriage had not broken down and each of those parties had
properly discharged his or her financial obligations and responsibilities
towards him.

(3) It shall be the duty of the court in deciding whether to exercise its
powers under section 5, 6 or 6A against a party to a marriage in favour of a
child of the family who is not the child of that party and, if so, in what
manner, to have regard (among the circumstances of the case)-

   (a)  to whether that party had assumed any responsibility for the child's
        maintenance and, if so, to the extent to which, and the basis upon
        which, that party assumed such responsibility and to the length of
        time for which that party discharged such responsibility;

   (b)  to whether in assuming and discharging such responsibility that party
        did so knowing that the child was not his or her own;

   (c)  to the liability of any other person to maintain the child. (Amended
        69 of 1997 s. 33) [cf. 1970 c. 45 s. 5 U.K.]