The situation
Our client, a German engineer, had lived in Shenzhen for eleven years with his Chinese wife and their son. Because the mother's job involved long periods of travel, the father had been the main day-to-day carer: school runs, homework, doctor's appointments and weekend activities. When the marriage broke down, the mother took the boy, then nine, to her home province during the summer holiday and stopped answering messages. The father did not know which school, if any, his son would attend in September.
He was worried that, as a foreigner, a Chinese court would automatically favour the Chinese parent. That is not the law. Under the Civil Code, custody is decided according to the best interests of the child, and for a child aged eight or older the child's true wishes must be respected.
What we did
- Filed for divorce and custody quickly at the Shenzhen district court where the family had its domicile, so the child's settled life in Shenzhen stayed at the centre of the case.
- Built a caregiving record: school communications, medical records, WeChat messages with teachers, photographs and statements from the boy's tutor and football coach showing who had actually been raising him.
- Addressed the removal directly. We documented the father's attempts to contact his son and argued that cutting off the child from a primary carer was not in his interests — an issue the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation II (effective 1 February 2025) specifically recognises.
- Asked the court to hear the child. The judge spoke privately with the boy, who said clearly that he wanted to return to his school and friends in Shenzhen and live with his father.
- Proposed generous visitation for the mother rather than seeking to exclude her, which helped show the father would support the child's relationship with both parents.
The outcome
The court granted the divorce and ordered that the son live with his father, with the mother entitled to visitation every other weekend, half of the winter and summer holidays and regular video calls. Child support was set at a modest monthly amount reflecting the mother's income. The boy was back at his Shenzhen school within weeks of the judgment taking effect. Total time from first meeting to judgment was about seven months.
Results depend on the specific facts of each matter; past outcomes do not guarantee similar results.