(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-08 08:00

Divorce is a civil case but Judge Xue Lixin, at Dagang Court, Tianjin in North China, had a difficult situation on her hands recently because her clients were deaf-mute.

"In the end we found using mobile phone text messages was an effective way of communicating," Xue said with a smile.

Wang Hong and Zhang Hai, both in their 40s, began their second marriage four years ago. Wang, however, asked for a divorce from her husband three months ago on the grounds of incompatibility.

Zhang did not want a divorce, as both were disabled and had previously married.

"It is hard for disabled people to get married and I wanted to make it work," Zhang said, in sign language.

"The case was not complex but it was hard to judge because they were both deaf-mute," Xue said.

In most contested divorce cases the petitioner is approached to change their mind.

"I made some phone calls and met with Wang's relatives and friends and asked them to change her mind, but they failed. She came to court four times and confirmed in writing she was determined to divorce," Xue said.

"Seeing that our efforts had made no impression on Wang we reluctantly started to work on Zhang," the judge said.

"Zhang lived a long way from court so I sent mobile phone text messages to inform him of our thinking and how the court operated. I think this was a good way of communicating," said Liu Jinghai, clerk of the court.

Eventually, the judges made Zhang understand that his wife was bent on divorce and it was best to give up.

Zhang then agreed to divorce but this was not the end of the matter, as there were disputes over division of their properties.

The two sides finally reached a consensus after the judges intervened once again.

"I was so grateful the judges made such an effort to mediate in my case. They showed a lot of care," Zhang said.

"In the end we found the case involved over 20 pages of communications and we sent 200 text messages," Xue said.