Pre/Postnuptial Agreements (the case of LCYP v JEK 2019) - 16 April 2020

The talk:

Marcus will discuss the Hong Kong High Court judgment in the case of LCYP v JEK [2019] HKCFI 1588 of 8 July 2019, in which he led the team for the successful husband, JEK (H). See: https://private-wealth.bclplaw.com/lcyp-v-jek-groundbreaking-decision-clarifying-thehong-kong-law-on-prenuptial-agreements-pnas

• This judgment is one of the most important family law decisions to be handed down in Hong Kong in the 9 years since the Court of Final Appeal’s landmark decision in LKW v DD in 2010 which brought in the ‘equal sharing’ principle.
• It has clarified the law and provided for the first time much-needed guidance about the standard at which the financially weaker party’s needs are to be assessed in the context of an unvitiated PNA and how PNAs are to be enforced:
• It clarifies the meaning of ‘real need’ (when the Court of Final Appeal case of SPH v SA [2014] 3 HKLRD 497 had not done so) in the context of determining whether financial terms of a PNA are to be treated as ‘fair’;
• It clarifies that in certain circumstances the court will order that some capital should be returned to the financially stronger party at a future date: the court agreed with H that a substantial amount of the financial capital award for his wife (W) should be returned to him or his estate upon the occurrence of certain future triggering events - when W was against any capital being returned at all. Such a condition has never before been imposed by a court in Hong Kong in any reported case involving a PNA.
• The chargeback amounts to 21.24% of W’s award.
• It powerfully demonstrates the impact on and the material financial consequences for a financially weaker spouse on divorce when parties sign up to an unvitiated PNA - while still achieving fairness.

Marcus will also provide an update on the current treatment of trusts on divorce in the Hong Kong courts. He will cover case management issues generally in high value international divorce cases, including: choice of counsel, the level of fee earner resources to be deployed, s17 Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Ordinance (set aside of asset) issues, and questions concerning joinder of trustees and submission to the jurisdiction.

The speaker: Marcus Dearle is a partner and Global Head of the Family Asset Protection team at BCLP and Asia Leader Private Client, working from both the Hong Kong and London offices: launched by Marcus from scratch in 2016, this was the first new family law team in London and Hong Kong in a major international law firm in decades.

Marcus is qualified in England & Wales, Hong Kong and the BVI. He advises HNW and UHNW individuals, families and trustees on all aspects of relationship breakdown. He is Senior Vice Chair of the International Bar Association Family Law Committee and is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL): IAFL is a worldwide association of practising lawyers who are recognised by their peers as the most experienced and skilled family law specialists in their respective jurisdictions. He is a Private Client Lawyer of the Year Finalist (and his team is also Private Client Team of the Year Finalist) in The Asia Legal Awards 2020, and he is listed as one of the top specialist trusts and private client lawyers in the world in Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite 2019. He is also rated in Chambers Asia Pacific and Who’s Who Legal.

Over the past 10 years Marcus has led the teams acting in a number of groundbreaking international family law cases that have gone to the Hong Kong Court of Appeal and/or Court of Final Appeal including the LCYP v JEK forum dispute, the Florence Tsang case (leading to the largest divorce financial award in Hong Kong history) and the ‘Hong Kong Charman’ case of Otto Poon in which he acted for the professional trustee, HSBC.

He is a leading Contentious Trusts and Divorce lawyer in Hong Kong representing trustees in UHNW divorce and trust cases and acts in many of the major trust and divorce cases currently going through the Hong Kong courts.

Marcus has written the Divorce and Trusts chapter in all three editions of Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Family Law in Hong Kong’. He is on the Consultant Editorial Board of Lexis Practical Guidance in Hong Kong and regularly writes for major broadsheet newspapers, including the London Times, and for leading periodicals such as Lexis Nexis’ Family Law Journal and the International Family Law Journal. He lectures widely at numerous international conferences including for STEP Asia, the Legal Week Private Client Forum and the IBA.

Marcus is a leading expert in Hong Kong on Hong Kong and UK surrogacy law, and an advocate for urgent surrogacy law reform.

About BCLP: With over 540 partners and 1,400 lawyers in 31 offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, BCLP is a fully integrated global law firm that provides clients with connected legal advice, wherever and whenever they need it.

Those interested should register using the attached seminar enrolment form.

Cost:

• STEP and HKTA members (early bird discount for payment on or before 14 April 2020) HK$250.00
• Guests and non-members (early bird discount for payment on or before 14 April 2020) HK$ 300.00
• Group discount for 3 or more people ( (early bird discount for payment on or before 14 April 2020) HK$225.00/person
• STEP and HKTA members (for payments received after 14 April 2020) HK$300.00
• Guests and non-members (for payments received after 14 April 2020) HK$350.00
• Group discount for 3 or more people (for payments received after 14 April 2020) HK$275.00/person
• HKU and CU student members HK$50