The divorce cooling-off period in China: implementation, effects, and improvements

Abstract

In recent years, rash divorces have become increasingly common in China, largely due to the simplified divorce process by registration. To address this issue, based on the pilot programme in some regions of China and reference to beneficial overseas legislative experience, Article 1077 of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China (CCPRC) introduced a divorce cooling-off period. In this work, we conduct empirical analysis to reveal the effectiveness of this cooling-off period in curbing rash divorces. It is revealed that the new legislation has led to a reduction in both registered divorces and the crude divorce rate. Despite its success, we find that the cooling-off period implemented by the CCPRC has some drawbacks. These include the excessive restriction of divorce freedom, the failure of this period to maximize the deterrent effects on rash divorce, as well as occasional misuse to delay divorce. In this regard, the authors propose necessary revisions for further improvement.