What are my rights as the wife of a Taiwanese?

[Feiren]

The law in Taiwan used to favor the father. The law has now been changed so that mother and father have equal chance for custody. There are still complaints that more conservative ministries like the Ministry of the Interior are still hindering single mothers. For example, your child will have her father's surname. If you divorce, you will currently not be able to change the surname unless both parents agree.

If the divorcing parents do not agree in their agreement who should get custody, the courts will decide on the basis of the child's best interest. This includes but is not limited to the child's economic interests. Apparently the court will ask a social worker to visit the parents and child and the opinion of the social worker will carry a lot of weight. I would see this as a dangerous variable for you. If you are in Taipei, you may well get a more liberal social worker who is open to the idea of a foreign mother raising a Taiwanese child. Outside of Taipei, you might run into a more conservative one.

There is a famous case in Taiwan where the courts have awarded custody to an orphaned child's Brazilian grandmother (the Taiwanese relatives have appealed), so the system is not necessarily stacked against you.

If you would like to get an opinion from an English speaking lawyer (who will charge you but will know of what she speaks), please PM me.

Good luck.

[miso]

Feiren, this sounds just like it is back here in Europe..

[Feiren]

No I am not a lawyer and you should not take my post as legal advice. I can put you in contact with a female Taiwanese lawyer with a special interest in women's issues.

[Sir Donald Bradman]

There is a famous case in Taiwan where the courts have awarded custody to an orphaned child's Brazilian grandmother (the Taiwanese relatives have appealed), so the system is not necessarily stacked against you.

Sorry to get off topiuc, but I thought Iruan was still in Taiwan with his uncle (who basically kidnapped him).

Actually this suggests to me that if you as a foreigner and a woman were to divorce your Taiwanese husband, that husband might just tyake the child and there wouldn't be much you could do whatever the courts say.
(But this is just wild speculation of course).

Brian

[Hartzell]

Mesheel, as you might have noticed by now, Hartzell has a bad case of tunnel vision and seems to have absolutely zero ability in terms of lateral thinking. You need to ask him specific questions -- despite his extensive work with foreign spouses here, he appears from his posts here to have learned pretty much nothing about the general situation and common problems faced by foreign mothers with Taiwanese husbands. Or maybe he has and is just being ornery with you.

I fail to see the benefit of such comments as these to the forumosa.com community as a whole. I have offered the poster the benefit of my general knowledge . . . . . . in relation to her very general questions.

To elucidate on this, it would be impossible to discuss the rights of the husband and wife in the case of a possible divorce action, for example, without having a lot of additional information . . . . . . . . hence I doubt that there would be any way to give a general answer to this kind of hypothetical divorce question.

My response of course took all these factors into account, as well as the existence of other special circumstances under international law . . . . . . . . etc. Thus, sandman's criticism is unwarranted, and I feel he owes me a beer.

[miso]

Brian...well, that can probably happen in any other country. let's not expect the worst...