Do you accept a matter with no China connection?

No. We only act where the matter has a China connection: a party in China or holding Chinese nationality, domicile, habitual residence or identity documents, or property, a company interest, evidence, a document or an enforcement step located in or directed at China. Where everything — the parties, the assets and the documents — sits outside China and no Chinese court or authority needs to act, a lawyer in that jurisdiction is better placed to help and we would not be the right firm.

Cases / Asset tracing

Offshore trust used to isolate assets in divorce: how the position was addressed

Asset tracing · Published 2026-10-10 · Reviewed by Yuanjia International Family Law Team

An anonymised firm matter. Names, exact figures and identifying details have been removed; the legal substance is unchanged. Outcomes depend on the facts of each matter and do not indicate a repeatable result.

Anonymisedclient identity

Asset Tracingmatter type

Cross-borderChina element

A husband held assets through a Cayman Islands trust structure and argued during the divorce that the trust removed the assets from the matrimonial pool entirely. The wife sought to establish what interest was in fact av

Background

The difficulty

Trust assets are not straightforwardly matrimonial property, and a Chinese court has no mechanism to unwind a foreign trust. The question was whether the structure was genuinely independent or whether the husband retained sufficient control for the assets to be treated as his.

What was done

The trust deed and the control arrangements were examined in detail, and preservation was sought over the China-situated assets that the husband held directly. The examination of the structure informed the negotiating position rather than producing a direct order against the trust.

Outcome

The claim was resolved through negotiation on terms that reflected the available interest, with the China-situated assets preserved throughout.

Why this pattern recurs

Where a trust is properly constituted and controlled independently, a claim against the trust assets is unlikely to succeed. Where control remains with the settlor, the position is different — so the control arrangements, not the existence of the trust, are the decisive question.

If your situation looks similar

Send the facts in one message: where the marriage was registered, where each party lives now, where any children are, and where the assets are held. That is usually enough to say whether a China route exists, and there is no charge for that first review.

Figures and outcomes described here relate to a specific matter and do not indicate a repeatable result.

Points to take away

Where a trust is properly constituted and controlled independently, a claim against the trust assets is unlikely to succeed. Where control remains with the settlor, the position is different — so the control arrangements, not the existence of the trust, are the decisive question.
The claim was resolved through negotiation on terms that reflected the available interest, with the China-situated assets preserve

Offshore trustCayman IslandsAsset isolationTrust controlAsset preservationValue-offsetCase note

← Previous: UK spouse unreachable and conceali…Next: Children brought back to China uni… →

Have a matter like this?

Free initial review of jurisdiction, documents and enforceability — before any cost is committed.

Request a review