Legal Updates
How to make use of the Mental Health Ordinance when a relative becomes incapable of managing their affairs
This article explains how to deal with a family member whose mental capacity declines and you need to gain control of their financial and legal affairs without an Enduring Power of Attorney. When a family member becomes mentally ill it is important to ensure that…Read More
Asialaw: Third-party funding in dispute resolution soon to be permitted in HK
Article from Karry Lai, Editor, Asialaw Like it or not, arbitration can be expensive. Third-party funding arrangements offer a possible solution. Hong Kong lags behind when it comes to this method of sharing or reducing the cost of contentious work, but the concept may gain…Read More
Legal update: Manager In Charge Regime – ComplianceAsia
This is a Client Alert from ComplianceAsia. For employment and regulatory related legal enquiries please contact Russell Bennett. Introduction In January 2017, the SFC released a circular on clarifications to its current regime on senior management, expectations as to Board obligations of licensed firms and…Read More
Police arrest procedures for breaches of Injunction Orders made against violent spouses and cohabitants under the Domestic and Cohabitation Relationships Violence Ordinance Cap 189
Introduction The Hong Kong Police Force recently reviewed procedures for the handling of cases involving breach of an Injunction Order with an authorisation of arrest attached made under the Domestic and Cohabitation Relationships Violence Ordinance (Cap 189) (“DCRVO”). Injunction order Section 3 of the DCRVO…Read More
Guilty plea discounts in sentencing guidelines for Hong Kong
In the appeal case of HKSAR v Ngo Van Nam CACC 418/2014, the Court of Appeal set down new guidelines for determining the amount of discount in sentence to be given to a defendant for a guilty plea. Prior to this decision a defendant received…Read More
Legal update: An introduction to Parental Alienation
Introduction Parental alienation refers to alignment of a child with one parent whilst rejecting a relationship with the other “without legitimate justification”1. This often results from the continued denigration of one parent by the other to the child / children of the family. In doing…Read More
Legal update: Stored Value Facilities: Are you ready for the 13 November 2016 deadline?
With the rapid development and growth of non-traditional and digital payment and settlement facilities in recent years, a new regulatory regime was needed in Hong Kong to protect users of stored value facilities (“SVFs”). In particular, regulators wanted to ensure that issuers and operators of…Read More
An introduction to company mergers in Hong Kong
Introduction Generally speaking from a corporate law perspective a merger or amalgamation is a legal process under which the assets and liabilities of two or more companies merge and are brought under one of the original companies or a newly incorporated company (as the case…Read More
An introduction to the legal aspects of illegal betting
International and domestic crackdown on illegal gambling on the Euro 2016 Championship and the Copa d’America football competitions reached headlines that summer. In late July 2016 Hong Kong Police announced that HK$586 million was seized and 103 arrests were made during the European Championship from…Read More
Legal update: An introduction to the legal aspects of match-fixing in sport
As illegal gambling has grown so has the awareness by local and international law enforcement agencies of the link between illegal gambling, organized crime and match-fixing and the severity of the match fixing. For instance in 2014 fifteen of the member states of the Council…Read More
Legal update: Escaping the abscondee regime – Bankruptcy (Amendment) Ordinance 2016
A bankrupt’s successful 2006 Court of Appeal1 challenge to the “abscondee” provisions in the Bankruptcy Ordinance effectively forced LegCo to tighten up one of the loopholes plaguing the current legislation. As a result, the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Ordinance became law earlier this year and will come…Read More
Why appoint an Enduring Power of Attorney?
Individuals can make arrangements to appoint other persons responsible in the event that a loss of mental capacity causes an inability to manage his or her own financial affairs such as in the case of dementia. A document known as Enduring Power of Attorney (“EPOA”)…Read More