China's Supreme Court allows cooling-off period prior to divorce

China's Supreme People's Court has released a document recently allowing divorcing couples up to 3-months for a cooling-off period by mutual consent prior to divorce in order to avoid impulsive divorces, reports bjnews.com.cn.

A divorce certificate [Photo: VCG]

The people's court can mediate, do survey and give psychological counseling according to the different circumstances of each case during this cooling off period, and inform both parties when the period is over.

In fact, as early as March, 2017, the People's Court of Anyue County in southwest China's Sichuan Province issued China's first notice of cooling-off period prior to divorce. On July 16, the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province has released a guidance, specifically stipulating the starting conditions, duration and operating rules of the cooling-off period.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of divorcing couples has been on the rise in 14 consecutive years, increasing from 1.177 million pairs in 2002 to 4.158 million pairs in 2016. In the first half of 2017, 5.58 million pairs got married and 1.85 million pairs divorced. It is also estimated that 70 to 80 percent of the minors who commit crimes come from divorced families.

The move by China's Supreme People's Court aims to actively defuse marriage crisis, strike the right balance between marriage freedom and family stability, and prevent juvenile delinquency.