AREAS OF PRACTICE

Resolving family crises. Planning before they arise.

Naidong Ma’s practice spans matrimonial and succession matters for high-net-worth families and family businesses, corporate-control disputes, issues crossing civil, commercial and criminal law, and wealth protection and succession planning in an international context.

01 / FAMILY & MATRIMONIAL

Family & matrimonial disputes

Mr Ma combines a detailed understanding of decision-making in Mainland Chinese courts with experience of overseas legal practice. Working with Dacheng offices and senior lawyers in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and other jurisdictions, he has acted in complex and high-value divorce and succession disputes.

Principal legal issues

  • Global matrimonial-asset due diligence, valuation and legal analysis
  • Forum selection, parallel proceedings and conflicts of laws between jurisdictions
  • Jurisdiction following a Chinese citizen’s acquisition of foreign nationality, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments
  • Validity of cross-border pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, nominee ownership, asset transfers and division of equity interests
  • Status and scope of heirs, authenticity and validity of wills, and applicable law in cross-border succession

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

2025Cross-border divorce involving a major shareholder of an H-share company

Acted for a major shareholder of an H-share listed company in a cross-border divorce dispute involving parallel proceedings in Germany and Mainland China and a related issue concerning the offence of bigamy.

2025Divorce involving the controlling shareholder and chair of a Hong Kong-listed company

The spouses commenced parallel proceedings in Mainland China and Hong Kong, raising contested issues of service, jurisdiction and the arrangement for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial and family cases.

2024Divorce involving the controller of a company listed in China and overseas

Used a coordinated set of legal measures to help preserve effective control of the listed company following divorce, while also addressing intergenerational succession and protection of property interests in the event of incapacity.

2018Global assets and parallel proceedings in China and Australia

Acted in the divorce of the controller of an international trading group. Disputed assets extended across the United States, Australia, Vietnam, the BVI and Hong Kong, involving global asset due diligence, nominee ownership and parallel proceedings in China and Australia.

02 / SUCCESSION & CORPORATE CONTROL

Succession & corporate control

Mr Ma has acted in a number of related commercial disputes following the unexpected death of a company controller, including contests among family members and between family members and other shareholders for control of the company. Some related cases have been decided by the Supreme People’s Court.

Principal legal issues

  • Control of business licences, accounting records and company chops, and authority to represent the company’s will
  • Validity of shareholder and board resolutions following the death of a chair
  • Damage to company or shareholder interests following the death of a major shareholder or controller
  • Control disputes among shareholders of offshore holding companies with operating entities in Mainland China
  • Tax, securities-regulatory, foreign-exchange and criminal issues—including bigamy and occupational embezzlement—arising from family conflict

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

2020Series of disputes after the unexpected death of a group controller

Handled intestate succession, corporate-control and related commercial and criminal disputes. Issues included the status of heirs, nominee ownership of equity and real property, and compliance and criminal-law risks in the operation of a family business.

2020Shareholder dispute involving a Bahamian holding company

Assisted a leading Bahamian law firm in a control dispute between shareholders of a company whose operating business was in Mainland China and whose holding company was incorporated in the Bahamas.

2019Control dispute involving a Chinese sports-event company

Acted in a series of disputes between the company’s founder and relatives of its controller, involving licences, chops and financial records, equity transfers, damage to company and shareholder interests, and compulsory dissolution and liquidation. The related cases concluded after retrial by the Supreme People’s Court.

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03 / PRIVATE WEALTH & PLANNING

Wealth protection & succession

Drawing on disputes involving major family and family-business crises in China and abroad, Mr Ma considers potential risks arising from nominee ownership, tax, foreign exchange and securities compliance. He works with professional advisers in relevant jurisdictions on wealth protection and succession arrangements.

Principal services

  • Pre-marital and marital property planning from a cross-border and succession perspective
  • Choice of law for wills, will drafting and executor arrangements across jurisdictions
  • Corporate restructuring, articles of association and operational governance for equity succession
  • Legal advice on family trusts from a wealth-protection and succession perspective
  • Cross-border voluntary-guardianship and lasting power of attorney arrangements

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

2024Coordinated wills for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Canada

Worked with a Hong Kong-based TEP familiar with Canadian tax law to design staged will arrangements reflecting a beneficiary’s Canadian tax residence, while also addressing pre-marital asset protection and nominee ownership.

2024Cross-border pre-nuptial agreement for a family successor

Drafted a pre-nuptial agreement for the successor to a Mainland holding group, identifying the potential jurisdiction of two overseas courts, structuring governing-law and dispute-resolution clauses, and tailoring succession provisions to the individual’s role in the family business.

2023Family-trust arrangements across Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore

Led Hong Kong and Singapore counsel in designing a family-trust structure and succession plan for a major shareholder of a Mainland-listed company, coordinating trust and will validity, matrimonial-property rules and the applicable laws of the relevant jurisdictions.

2021Pre-marital arrangements for a major shareholder of an overseas-listed Chinese company

Structured a pre-nuptial agreement under the PRC Civil Code and relevant overseas case law for listed-company shares held through a family trust.

04 / CROSS-BORDER COLLABORATION

Cross-border legal coordination

As a Fellow of the IAFL and a TEP member of STEP, Mr Ma works with professionals in different countries and regions to provide Chinese-law input and multi-jurisdictional coordination in cross-border family disputes and private wealth matters.

Ways of working

  • Providing expert opinions on Chinese law to overseas family courts
  • Appearing as an expert witness on Chinese law in overseas family-court proceedings
  • Coordinating local counsel on jurisdiction, parallel proceedings, applicable law, and recognition and enforcement of judgments
  • Working with TEPs and local tax and trust professionals on cross-border wealth arrangements

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

2018Chinese-law expert opinion for an Australian family court

Jointly instructed by both parties to Australian proceedings to provide an expert opinion on Chinese-law issues arising from a post-divorce property dispute involving China and Australia. The issues included recognition and enforcement of an Australian judgment in Mainland China and the jurisdiction of Chinese courts over the post-divorce property dispute.

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This page is based on experience recorded in the professional profile. Matters are anonymised. Prior experience does not guarantee or predict the outcome of any other matter.