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 / Property partition

Divorce while living in Tokyo: preservation and value-offset for a domestic property

Property partition · 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

Property Partitionmatter type

Cross-borderChina element

A Chinese couple divorcing while one party lived in Tokyo held a residential property in China worth roughly RMB 10 million. The overseas party wanted to conclude the matter without returning, and needed certainty about

Background

The difficulty

The overseas party could not attend hearings in person; the property needed to be dealt with in a way that did not require enforcement abroad; and the division had to reflect the fact that one party would keep assets located in Japan.

What was done

Preservation was obtained over the Chinese property, and the division was structured as a value-offset: the China-situated property was allocated on terms that accounted for what the other party retained overseas. Documents were authenticated and translated in advance so the hearings could proceed without adjournment.

Outcome

The divorce and the property division were concluded with the overseas party participating remotely, and the outcome required no cross-border enforcement.

Why this pattern recurs

A value-offset is not a concession — it is the structure that makes a cross-border division completable. Where the overseas party has assets abroad, it is usually the only route that produces a final result.

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

A value-offset is not a concession — it is the structure that makes a cross-border division completable. Where the overseas party has assets abroad, it is usually the only route that produces a final result.
The divorce and the property division were concluded with the overseas party participating remotely, and the outcome required no c

JapanTokyoValue-offsetAsset preservationRemote participationApostilleCase note

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