China’s first Civil Code, issued in May 2020, introduced a new divorce procedure, i.e., a cooling-off period for divorce. Divorce registration procedures were modified accordingly.
As the Civil Code of China enters into force as of 1 Jan. 2021, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which is responsible for formulating marriage registration policies, promulgated the Circular on Implementing the Provisions on Marriage Registration in the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (关于贯彻落实<中华人民共和国民法典>中有关婚姻登记规定的通知, Min Fa [2020] No.116), making the following adjustments to marriage-related registration, especially divorce procedures, etc.
1. Within 30 days after the marriage registration authority receives the application for divorce registration and issues the Receipt of Accepting the Application for Divorce Registration (the Receipt) to the parties concerned, either party who does not want to get divorced may, by presenting his/her valid identity card and the Receipt, withdraw the application for divorce registration to the said marriage registration authority.
Where both parties fail to jointly apply to the marriage registration authority for the issuance of a divorce certificate within 30 days upon the expiration of the cooling-off period for divorce, the divorce registration application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
2. Marriage registration authorities shall establish divorce registration archives and formulate the archives in an electronic form.
Contributors: Yanru Chen 陈彦茹
