Family Law · 03.11.2024

Divorce Lawyer in Vietnam: Court, Children, Property

You are married in Vietnam, or married to a Vietnamese citizen, and the marriage is ending. The questions that actually decide the outcome are narrow: which court has the case, whether Vietnam is the only forum open to you, who the children live with, and how the property splits.…

Lawyer UnilawReading time: 11 min

By Lawyer Nguyen Nhu Hai – UniLaw LLC

A decided Vietnamese case on property after divorce

Judgment No. 01/2025/HNGD-PT of 29 August 2025 — Court of Appeal of the Supreme People’s Court, dispute over property after divorce.

One party appeared under both a Vietnamese and a foreign form of name. The Court of Appeal discontinued the defendant’s appeal, rejected the claimant’s appeal and upheld the first-instance judgment of the Ho Chi Minh City court. The provisions applied are the point: Articles 27, 29 and 95 of the Law on Marriage and Family in force from 1 January 2001, and Articles 33, 40 and 59 of the Law in force from 1 January 2015, with Joint Circular No. 01/1997.

Two things to take from it. The court applied the statute in force when the relationship arose, not the one in force at trial — so in a long marriage the division can run on a law repealed years ago. And a foreign-element divorce is heard in Vietnam under Article 127 of the Law on Marriage and Family where the conditions there are met.

Decided family cases are published on case.unilaw.vn.

The legal basis for a divorce in Vietnam

Law on Marriage and Family, consolidated as No. 121/VBHN-VPQH of 27 August 2025 — Article 51 (who may petition, and the bar on a husband petitioning while his wife is pregnant or raising a child under 12 months), Article 55 (consent divorce), Article 56 (one-sided divorce), Articles 33, 40 and 59 (property), Article 127 (foreign element).
The Law on Marriage and Family in force from 1 January 2001 — Articles 27, 29 and 95 — where the relationship arose under it.
Civil Procedure Code, consolidated as No. 21/VBHN-VPQH of 12 February 2026 — Article 469(1)(d) (general jurisdiction over a divorce with a foreign element) and Article 470(1)(a) and (b) (exclusive Vietnamese jurisdiction over immovable property here, and over a Vietnamese–foreign divorce where both spouses live long-term in Vietnam).
Law No. 85/2025/QH15 of 25 June 2025, in force from 1 July 2025, amending the Civil Procedure Code — Article 35 (first instance moves to the Regional People’s Court) and Article 37 (the Provincial People’s Court is left appeals, cassation and review).
Law on Lawyers, Law No. 65/2006/QH11, Article 76 as amended by Law No. 20/2012/QH13 — a foreign lawyer may not appear before a Vietnamese court.

Can a foreigner get divorced in Vietnam?

Usually yes, and often you have no choice. Article 127 of the Law on Marriage and Family covers a divorce between a Vietnamese citizen and a foreign national, and between two foreign nationals permanently resident in Vietnam: the competent Vietnamese authority resolves it under that Law. Where the Vietnamese spouse is not permanently resident in Vietnam when the petition is filed, the law of the couple’s common place of residence applies; with no common residence, Vietnamese law applies.

Two provisions of the Civil Procedure Code decide whether a Vietnamese court will take the case at all.

Article 469(1)(d) — a Vietnamese court has general jurisdiction over a divorce where the claimant or the respondent is a Vietnamese citizen, or where the parties are foreign nationals residing, working or living long-term in Vietnam.
Article 470(1)(b) — jurisdiction is exclusive to Vietnamese courts in a divorce between a Vietnamese citizen and a foreign national or a stateless person if both spouses reside, work or live long-term in Vietnam. Article 470(1)(a) does the same wherever rights over immovable property located in Vietnam are in issue.

That second point is the one that catches couples out. If it applies, a decree obtained in another country will not settle the matter in Vietnam, and a Vietnamese court is the only forum.

Which Vietnamese court handles the divorce?

This changed recently, and most English-language pages on the subject are still wrong. Law No. 85/2025/QH15 of 25 June 2025, in force from 1 July 2025, replaced Articles 35 and 37 of the Civil Procedure Code.

First instance now sits with the Regional People’s Court (Tòa án nhân dân khu vực), through its Family and Juvenile Court. Article 35 as amended gives it the disputes under Articles 26, 28, 30 and 32 and the requests under Articles 27, 29, 31 and 33 — marriage and family cases are in that list.
The Provincial People’s Court no longer hears these at first instance at all. Article 37 as amended leaves it appeals, cassation and review, plus applications to set aside or register an arbitral award.

So a page that sends you to a “district-level court”, or that says a foreign-element divorce goes to the provincial court, is describing the position before 1 July 2025. Ask which Regional Court covers the residence in question before anything is filed; getting that wrong costs weeks.

Mutual-consent vs unilateral divorce in Vietnam

Consent divorce — Article 55. Where both spouses petition together, the court recognises the divorce only if it finds the consent genuine and the couple have agreed on dividing property and on looking after, raising, caring for and educating the children, on a basis that protects the lawful interests of the wife and the children. If there is no agreement, or there is one that fails that test, the court decides the divorce itself rather than simply recording the deal.

One-sided divorce — Article 56. Conciliation at court must fail first. The court then grants the divorce if there are grounds that one spouse has committed domestic violence, or has seriously breached spousal rights and duties, such that the marriage is in a serious state, common life cannot continue and the purpose of the marriage is not achieved. A separate route in Article 56(2) covers the spouse of a person the court has declared missing.

One limit that surprises foreign husbands. Under Article 51(3) a husband has no right to petition for divorce while his wife is pregnant, giving birth, or raising a child under 12 months old. The wife is under no such restriction. Article 51(2) also lets a parent or other close relative petition in a narrow case: where one spouse cannot understand or control their conduct through mental or other illness and is at the same time a victim of domestic violence by the other spouse that seriously affects their life, health or mind.

Child custody after divorce

Article 81 governs this and it is not a contest won by the higher earner.

The parents may agree who the child lives with and what each parent’s rights and duties are. The court only steps in where they cannot agree.
Deciding for them, the court assigns the child to one parent on the child’s interests in every respect — not income alone, but stability, the existing bond, the ability to care day to day, and the child’s relationship with the other parent.
A child aged 7 or over must be asked what they want. The court weighs that view; it is not a vote, but it is on the file.
A child under 36 months is generally placed with the mother, unless statutory exceptions apply — the mother is not in a position to look after, care for, raise and educate the child, or the parents have agreed otherwise in a way that suits the child’s interests.

Custody is not permanent. Article 84 lets the court change the arrangement where the parents agree to a change that suits the child, or where the parent with care is no longer in a position to provide it; again a child of 7 or over is asked. Close relatives, the State family and child authorities and the Women’s Union may all apply on the second ground.

Child support and contact rights

Article 82 puts two obligations on the parent the child does not live with, and one protection in their favour.

They must respect the child’s right to live with the parent who has care.
They must pay child support. The parents may agree the amount; failing agreement the court sets it, on what the payer can actually afford and what the child actually needs.
They have the right to visit the child, and no one may obstruct it. That right is not unconditional: where visits are used to obstruct or to harm the child’s upbringing, the parent with care may ask the court to restrict them.

In practice the support figure and the visiting schedule are where a consent divorce breaks down late. Settle both in writing before filing, in terms specific enough to enforce.

How marital property is divided

Article 59 starts with the couple’s own agreement. Where the spouses have an agreed property regime, that governs; where the regime is the statutory one, or the agreement is incomplete or unclear, the court applies Article 59(2) to (5) and Articles 60 to 64.

Vietnamese law starts from an equal-division principle, but the final allocation may differ. Article 59(2) requires the court to divide common property in two taking into account:

the circumstances of the family and of each spouse;
each spouse’s contribution to creating, maintaining and growing the common property — and work in the home counts as income-earning work, which is the provision that matters most to a spouse who stopped working;
protecting each side’s legitimate interests in production, business and profession, so both can keep earning after the divorce;
the fault of each side in breaching spousal rights and duties.

Article 59(3) divides in kind where that is possible and by value where it is not, with the party taking the asset accounting to the other for the difference. So “we each get half” is the starting point, not the answer.

What if property or one spouse is overseas?

Split the question in two, because the answers run in opposite directions.

Immovable property abroad. Article 127(3) of the Law on Marriage and Family sends its division to the law of the country where the property is. A Vietnamese court deciding your divorce does not apply Vietnamese property rules to a house in another country.
Immovable property in Vietnam. The opposite: Article 470(1)(a) of the Civil Procedure Code makes Vietnamese jurisdiction exclusive over rights to it. No foreign court can dispose of it.
A spouse living abroad. Article 127(2) applies where the Vietnamese spouse is not permanently resident in Vietnam when the petition is filed. Service and evidence-taking abroad then run through the Code’s procedures for cases with a foreign element, and they are the main reason these files take longer than domestic ones.

If you were already divorced abroad and now need that recognised for a Vietnamese purpose — remarriage, a birth record, a property transfer — there is a separate civil-status step in Vietnam in the cases the law provides for. Ask about it before you rely on the foreign decree here.

What documents and practical steps should a foreign spouse prepare?

Bring what you have to the first meeting even if it is incomplete. The list is short and the translation work is what takes time.

Marriage certificate, and the marriage registration record if the marriage was registered abroad.
Passports, visa or temporary residence card, and proof of where each spouse actually lives — this decides which Regional Court has the case.
Children’s birth certificates, and anything showing who has cared for them day to day: school records, medical records, residence registration.
Property documents: land use right certificates, vehicle registration, bank and securities statements, company share records.
Proof of income for both spouses, for the support and contribution questions.

Documents issued abroad need certified Vietnamese translation, and usually consular legalisation unless a treaty removes it. Start that early. You can instruct us by power of attorney and need not attend every step in person, but note the point in the legal basis above: a foreign lawyer cannot appear before a Vietnamese court, so Vietnamese counsel must be on the record.

Working with UniLaw on a divorce in Vietnam

We work in English from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang, and we act on divorces with a foreign element most weeks. At the first meeting we do three things: fix which Regional Court has jurisdiction, test whether Article 470 makes Vietnam the only forum, and list the documents that need translation and legalisation. Fees are agreed in the written engagement before the file opens. We do not act for both spouses in the same matter. Where a family company or shareholding is in issue, our corporate team works alongside on the valuation and transfer.

How to engage Vietnamese counsel, what the written engagement must contain, the four lawful fee methods, and why foreign counsel cannot appear before a Vietnamese court are on our page for attorneys in Vietnam. Where a family business or company shares are in issue, our corporate lawyers work alongside.

Every note we publish on family law in Vietnam is collected in one archive, newest first.

For how a divorce sits alongside the other matters we handle here, see the wider picture of legal services for foreigners in Vietnam.