China Makes Divorcing Couples Wait Thirty Days — Epoche B1
Since 1 January 2021, a Chinese couple who agree to divorce cannot simply register it and walk out of the office. Article 1077 of the Civil Code gives them a cooling-off period of thirty days, during which either partner may withdraw the application. If neither does, they must both return within the following thirty days to collect the certificate; if one of them fails to appear, the application lapses and the whole process starts again. The case for the rule is easy to state. An old saying warns that spilt water cannot be gathered back into the bowl, and a marriage ended in temper is not easily rebuilt. Registration offices used to see couples arrive after a bad week and sign the same afternoon. Registered divorces did fall after the rule came in, and supporters count that fall as marriages saved. The answer is equally serious. A pause is not neutral. It costs least to the partner who is hesitating and most to the partner who is certain, and the one who is certain is often the one who has already spent years deciding. Thirty days of shared address, shared money and shared silence is a real price. Worse, the rule reaches only divorce by agreement. A couple who cannot agree go to court instead, so the hardest cases, including the frightening ones, are pushed onto a slower road. Both sides are describing the same instrument from opposite ends. A waiting period protects the undecided by binding the decided; that is not a fault in the drafting, it is the design. If we want the protection, we should at least admit who pays for it, and build a fast exit for those who should never have been asked to wait. References National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (2020). Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, Article 1077. National People's Congress. Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China (2022). Statistical Communique on Civil Affairs Development 2021. Ministry of Civil Affairs.