Divorce by agreement is also called consensual divorce or registered divorce. In China’s Marriage Law and Civil Code, it is called voluntary divorce, which refers to the divorce in which the marriage relationship is dissolved because of the consent of both parties.
With regard to the marriage registration system, the Civil Code has added a 30-day “divorce cooling-off period” system, which makes it clear that within 30 days from the date on which the marriage registration office receives the application for divorce registration, if either party is unwilling to divorce, the application for divorce registration may be withdrawn to the marriage registration office. Within 30 days after the expiration of the 30-day period prescribed in the preceding paragraph, both parties shall personally apply to the marriage registration office for the issue of a divorce certificate; if they fail to do so, the application for divorce registration shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
There are three conditions for divorce formalities in the Civil Affairs Bureau:
First, both husband and wife must reach an agreement on divorce, that is, both husband and wife have clearly agreed to divorce voluntarily.
Second, a consensus has been reached on the issue of child rearing, that is, which party of the husband and wife directly raises the child, how much the other party pays for child support and related visits.
Third, the husband and wife have reached an agreement on the disposal of common property. If the form of divorce by agreement is adopted, the above three conditions must be met at the same time, and none of them is indispensable.
If a party agrees to divorce, he shall apply for divorce registration with the marriage registration office at the place where one party’s domicile is located.
Divorce agreement refers to the written agreement on property division, child guardianship and visits, spousal alimony and child support signed by the husband and wife who are about to dissolve the marriage. The divorce agreement must be in written form, signed by both parties of husband and wife, and approved by the court or the administrative department of marriage registration before it can have legal effect. This is one of the requirements for divorce proceedings. For voluntary divorce, provisions such as child upbringing and visits, division of common property, joint creditor’s rights and debts, financial assistance for living difficulties and so on are necessary in the divorce agreement.
