A 101-year-old man has become one of Taiwan’s oldest plaintiffs in a divorce case after he filed for divorce from his 81-year-old Chinese-born wife, who has countersued, seeking half the couple’s assets.
The man, surnamed Chou (周), said his wife, surnamed Chen (陳), had left their Pingtung County home last year, saying she was “heading back to China for medical care.”
However, he later discovered that Chen was instead living in “the northern part” of Taiwan, and “several hundred thousand” New Taiwan dollars were missing from his bank account, which led him to file for divorce, he said.
Chou told the Pingtung District Court that he met Chen while visiting relatives in China about two decades ago, after his first wife died.
Chen had also been married before, he said.
A source familiar with the case on Saturday said that the judge would likely push the pair to reach an outside settlement, given their ages and concern that a long case might be too stressful for them.
A relative of Chou on Saturday said that the couple had been in contact and that there was a possibility of a settlement.
While Chou was healthy for his age, Chen was already in bad health and would likely not want a prolonged case, they said.
Attorney Liao Fang-hsuan (廖芳萱) yesterday said that divorce cases generally take two to three years before a final ruling is issued, as they normally go through four months of mediation and only proceed with the litigation if the mediation is unsuccessful.
The spouses usually present evidence to support their claims that their loss is greater, and in more complicated cases judges might need up to five years to investigate and review all of the evidence, and go through appeals, Liao said.
Part of that time is spent hearing witnesses and assessing the assets, she added.
Additional reporting by Wu Cheng-feng
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS