Rich people with wobblymarriages need to think hard about where they live
婚姻不稳定的有钱人要慎重考虑自己的居住地
MARRIAGE may be about love, but divorce is a business. For global couples—born in different countries, married in a third, now working somewhere else and with children, pensions and other assets sprinkled over the world—a contested divorce is bliss for lawyers and a nightmare for others.
结婚也许与爱情有关，但离婚则是一个行业。就生于不同国家、结合于第三国、目前在别国工作且子女、养老金和其他资产又散布于世界各地的跨国夫妇来说，他们的离婚大战在律师看来是福音，在其他人看来却是梦魇。
Divorce laws vary wildly, from countries (such as Malta) that still forbid it to Islamic states where—for the husband, at least—it may be obtained in minutes. Rules on the division of property and future financial obligations vary hugely too. France expects the poorer party, usually the wife, to start fending for herself almost immediately; England and some American states insist on lifelong support. Some systems look only at the “acquest” (assets built during the marriage); others count the lot. A few, like Austria, still link cash to blame (eg, for adultery[1]). Japan offers a temptinglyquick cheap break, but—for foreigners—little or no enforceable contact with the kids thereafter, notes Jeremy Morley, a New York-based “international divorce strategist”. Other places may be mum-friendly when it comes to money but dad-friendly on child custody.
各国离婚法律大相径庭，有的国家(如马耳他)仍禁止离婚，而在一些伊斯兰国家却可以说离就离(至少对男方是这样)。各国关于财产分割和未来赡养义务的规定也差异甚巨。法国规定经济实力较弱的一方(通常是女方)离婚后必须立即自立；英格兰和美国一些州则要求终生赡养。有的国家仅要求对“婚后财产”(即婚后创建的资产)进行分割，有的却要分割所有财产。少数国家如奥地利在分割财产时还要考虑过错在哪一方(比如婚外情)的问题。在日本，离婚手续很快就可办妥，但来自纽约的“跨国婚姻离婚战略家”杰里米?莫雷(Jeremy Morley)指出，对于外国人而言，离婚就几乎意味着要断绝与子女的联系。有的国家在财产问题上会顾及女方的利益，但在子女抚养问题上则要照顾男方。
The European Union (home to 875,000 divorces a year, of which a fifth are “international”) is trying to tidy up its divorce laws. A reform in 2001 called Brussels II tried to stop forum shopping, in which each party sought the most favourable jurisdiction, by ruling that the first court to be approached decides the divorce. That worked—but at the cost of encouraging trigger-happy spouses to kill troubled marriages quickly, rather than trying to patch them up. This, says David Hodson, a specialist in international divorce law, favours the “wealthier, more aggressive, more unscrupulous[2] party”. It goes against the general trend towards counselling, mediation and out-of-court settlement.
欧盟每年有87.5万对夫妇离婚，其中1/5属“跨国婚姻”，目前它正设法完善其离婚法律。2001年一次名为“布鲁塞尔二号(Brussels II)”的改革规定离婚必须由诉讼送达的首个法院来判决，以防止“选购法院(forum shopping)”行为，亦即离婚当事人选择向最有利于自己的法院提起诉讼。改革是有效的，但代价却是争吵不休的夫妇早早劳燕分飞，而不是让他们破镜重圆。跨国离婚法律专家大卫?霍德森(David Hodson)说，这正是“比较富裕、更为好斗、寡廉鲜耻的一方”想要的结果。处理离婚问题时，一般都倾向于劝告、调停和庭外和解，这种做法显然有悖于此。 |
