PARTNERSharon Ser
Sharon is a Partner of Rita Ku & Ser.
Family law doyen Sharon Ser joins RKS in July 2022, bringing with her 40 years of experience in family and divorce matters, and a strong commitment to providing essential legal and life solutions to private clients. Sharon’s experience in the Hong Kong family law practice makes her an authoritative voice in the industry, witnessing the intricacies and complications of family matters faced by her clients, and representing clients in many ground-breaking matrimonial cases paramount to the development of the family law practice in the city.
Sharon takes a pragmatic and three-dimensional approach to her cases, explaining the law and the options available to her clients in their unique contexts, and adopts the three Bs values of Believing – to be assertive and fair to achieve peace; Behaving – to ensure the very best professional and personal standards are available, and Belonging – committing to the right team that shares similar goals and values to strive for success together with her clients.
Helming the family law practice in an international law firm for over a decade prior to her latest move to RKS, Sharon successfully established the firm’s family team to be the largest and top ranked family teams in Hong Kong. Having considerable experience in both contentious and non-contentious family matters, Sharon is recognised as both a Forceful Courtroom Advocate, as well as a Facilitator of settlements. She is highly respected and has a highly regarded reputation amongst members of the family law community in Hong Kong, known to fight for the best interests of her clients and their families.
Sharon will dedicate her aspirations, ambitions and concerns in family law to generate a positive impact for clients as well as ensuring RKS is recognised as the premier law firm in Hong Kong. In this further and evolving stage of her legal career, Sharon is committed to providing essential life solutions to private clients combining her professional knowledge and philanthropic aspirations. The extensive international connections that Sharon has firmly established will ensure the international needs, PRC needs, and Hong Kong needs of families are met and safeguarded.
Language – English
Language – English
LitigationJurisdiction
Disputes relating to complex asset holdings structures and trusts, and the discovery thereof, are one of Sharon’s expertise
Of note was the case before the Court of Final Appeal which established that prenuptial agreements would be enforced in Hong Kong in line with the English Supreme Court case of Radmacher v Granatino [2010]:
- SPH v SA (Forum and marital agreements) Court of Final Appeal No 22 of 2013
Extensive knowledge in both forum disputes and international jurisdictional issues, this was tested in the leading case before the Court of Final Appeal and also in the seminal Court of Appeal case of DGC v SLC [2005] HKEC 2079 which preceded it. Other leading cases involving jurisdiction issues are:
- SJH v RJH (forum) CACV 280/2011 [2012] 3 HKC
- SZ v JZ (forum and substantial connection) HCMC 6 /2011 also reported as Z v Z (Substantial connection and forum)
- RKL v WL & Ors (Leave to appeal; substantial connection; submission to the jurisdiction) CACV 9 of 2016
She was called upon to be an expert witness on Hong Kong Family Law and jurisdictional issues in overseas courts.
Finance
Successfully handled many international divorce cases involving jurisdiction arguments and financial issues and involved in various widely reported and ground-breaking legal cases before the Court of Appeal, many of which have fundamentally impacted Hong Kong's area of law.
Such cases before the Court of Appeal include:
- YN v NA (Ancillary relief: compensation) CACV 240 of 2013 – leading case on compensation
- PW v PPTW (Ancillary relief; non-matrimonial property) CACV 224/2013 – leading case on premarital assets
- HJFG v KCY (Maintenance Pending Suit) CACV 127/2011 – leading case on MPS
- CH v MEH (variation of a lump sum in consent order) CACV 92/2011 leading case on the variation of lump sums
- JAH v VH (Decree Absolute) CACV no 279 of 2012 – leading case on Decree Absolute where it was vital for the client to obtain her decree in order to access assets which were held overseas.
I was successful in obtaining one of the highest awards for an unmarried mother for child maintenance:
- WGL v ASB (Child maintenance under the GMO) HCMP 489 of 2013 – leading case on child maintenance under the GMO.
My recent case before the Court of Appeal involved resisting the incessant attempts of a husband from setting aside a Consent Order, this case has involved securing assets and complex questions on jurisdiction and the transfer of the cases in the High and Family Courts and still has to be finally pdetermined by the court:
- GM-SA also known as DG,M-S v DDPJ (jurisdiction for setting aside a consent order) [2020] HKCA 488
- A v. B (Transfer back to the Family Court) HCA2431/2017 [2021] HKCFI 77 (08/01/2021) This was the same case as above in which I successfully transferred the case back to the Family Court, which was a landmark ruling in setting aside cases.
Achievements and Recognitions
- Band 1 Lawyer on Chambers Asia-Pacific
- The Associate Editor of the Hong Kong Family Law Reports from inception in 2005 to date, Lexis Nexis
- A contributor to Family Law and Practice in Hong Kong editions 1,2 and 3, Sweet & Maxwell
- A past Chair of the Family Law Association
- A long-standing member of the IAFL
- Recognised as a Preeminent Lawyer on Doyle’s Hong Kong Family & Divorce Lawyers.
- Recognised by the Benchmark Litigation as the Top 100 Women in Litigation.
Professional Publications
Sharon is a frequent contributor to legal publications and the press, including:
The recent rise of divorce inquiries during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.
Her thought leadership articles and media coverage in 2020/2021 include, but are not limited to:
The recent rise of divorce inquiries during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.
Her thought leadership articles and media coverage in 2020/2021 include, but are not limited to:
Interviewee, "Rethinking Budgets"
Asian Legal Business, Feb 2021
Commenter, "Divorce lawyers to the wealthy: The pandemic has been a real wake-up call"
FT Wealth, Oct 2020
Commenter, "Why a prenup could improve your marriage and even be romantic - an important gift each partner can give to the other"
SCMP, Sep 2020
Panelist, "Impact on divorcing couples during and after the pandemic"
Withers Webinar, Aug 2020
Commenter, "Covid-19 toll on marriage: divorce inquiries on the rise"
SCMP, May 2020