Divorce and Division of Assets

Latest Court Costs and Fees for Divorce Cases In 2022

Author
Hannah Huynh

In a divorce case, apart from issues on how to deal with child custody, community property, and debts, court costs and fees are also of much interest to many people.  Below is some information on court costs and fees as well as advances of such costs and fees when a divorce petition is filed for the Court’s disposition. 

Concerning a petition for recognition of a divorce by mutual consent

When the involved persons have agreed on all important issues such as division of community property, child custody, obligations of care and education of children, and community debts, their request for a divorce by mutual consent will be considered and recognized by the Court or the Court will proceed to resolve the divorce case if such agreements do not ensure legitimate interests of spouses and children. 

Then, according to Section B.I.1 of Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14, the court cost advance for a divorce case is VND 300,000. Under Article 146.2 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, spouses are obliged to pay this fee, both of them can agree on who will perform this obligation, or each spouse shall pay half of the fee advance if they fail to agree on this fee. 

Concerning a unilateral divorce petition

If important issues such as division of community property, children custody, and community debts cannot be resolved between themselves, either spouse has the right to file a lawsuit requesting the Court to settle their divorce case.  Clause 4, Article 147 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code prescribes that the plaintiff must bear a first-instance court fee in the divorce case, regardless of whether the court accepts the plaintiff’s request or not. Each of the involved persons shall bear half of the court fee in case of a divorce by mutual consent.

As such, if the dispute does not relate to property obligations, the petitioner shall pay an advance of the court fee for a marriage dispute without monetary value. Otherwise, if the divorce dispute involves property, the court fees shall be computed according to regulations applicable to marriage disputes with monetary value.

A divorce dispute has no monetary value

In case a spouse makes a unilateral divorce request without property dispute or with a dispute over property with no monetary value, the petitioner shall pay a court fee advance of 300,000 VND. 

A divorce dispute with monetary value

If the spouses have a property dispute, under Clause 5, Article 27 of Resolution No. 326/2016/UBTVQH14, apart from the first instance civil court fee of VND 300,000, the involved parties shall also cover the first-instance court fee for the part of the disputed property as in the case of a civil case with monetary value for the part of the property to which they are entitled.

Court fees in marriage and family disputes according to normal procedures are prescribed in the table below (Section A, List of court costs and fees, Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14).

For marriage and family, or labor disputes involving no monetary value VND 300,000
For marriage and family, or labor disputes with monetary value From VND 6,000,000 or less VND 300,000
From VND 6,000,000 or more to VND 400,000,000 5% of the disputed property value
From VND 400,000,000 or more to VND 800,000,000 VND 20,000,000  + 4% of the portion of disputed property value exceeding VND 400,000,000
From VND 800,000,000 or more to VND 2,000,000,000 36,000,000 + 3% of the portion of disputed property value exceeding VND 800,000,000
From VND 2,000,000,000 or more to VND 4,000,000,000 72,000,000 + 2% of the portion of disputed property value exceeding VND 2,000,000,000
From VND 4,000,000,000 or more 112,000,000 + 0.1% of the portion of disputed property value exceeding VND 4,000,000,000.

According to Article 25.1 of Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14, the divorce petitioner, the plaintiff is obliged to pay the fee advance by the above regulations. For divorce disputes resolved according to a simplified procedure, the court fee is only half of the above-mentioned court fee under Article 6 of Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14).

Who pays court fees?

After the dispute is resolved, the court fee shall be paid by the plaintiff whether the Court accepts the plaintiff’s petition or not. The court fee shall be shared by the spouses in case of a petition for divorce by mutual consent. (Under Clause 4, Article 147 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code). 

Under Article 27.5.b of Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14, apart from the above court cost, the involved parties in the case of marriage and family with a dispute over the division of community property of spouses shall also bear the court cost for the disputed property as in a civil case with a monetary value corresponding to the value of the property portion divided among each of them. 

The time limit for paying court costs and fee advance, paying court costs and fees

The time limit for paying court cost advances

Within 7 days from receipt of the Court’s notice on payment of first-instance civil court cost advance, the plaintiff shall pay such advance and submit to the Court a receipt thereof. 

The time limit for paying court fee advances

Under Article 17.3.a of Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14, a petitioner filing a divorce petition is obliged to pay the first-instance court fee advance and submit the receipt thereof to the Court within 05 working days from receipt of the court’s notice on payment of court fee advances unless he/she has plausible reasons for failing to do so;

Under Article 17.5.a of Resolution 326/2016-UBTVQH14, court costs and fees shall be payable when the Court’s judgment/ decree takes effect.

Civil judgment enforcement agencies collect court costs and court cost advances for divorce disputes or divorce upon request of either spouse and collect fees and fee advances for requests for recognition of a divorce by mutual consent.

Notes: 

If involved persons are poor individuals or households; the elderly; the disabled; persons with meritorious services to the revolution; ethnic minorities in communes in extremely difficult socio-economic conditions; relatives of martyrs granted a Certificate of martyr family by a competent state agency are exempted from paying court cost advance and court costs under Point d, Clause 1, Article 12, Resolution No. 326/2016/UBTVQH14.

If the parties agree that one party shall be subject to the whole court cost or a partial court cost while this party is eligible for the full exemption of court costs, the court shall consider approving the full exemption of the partial court cost to which such party is subject. This party is not eligible for the full exemption of the court cost and fee which they pay for another party.

Regarding a petition for recognition of mutual consent divorce, agreement for children custody, and property division, the spouses may agree on payment of court fee advances, unless they are exempted or not obliged to pay the court fee advance.

Each spouse shall pay 50% of the court fee advance if they fail to reach an agreement on the court fee advance.

Hope the above article provides readers with useful information.

Please note that the above information may change or the cited laws will expire subject to changes in legal regulations from time to time. For any questions or legal assistance in your divorce case, please contact us at letran@familylawyers.vn.

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