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The new law in China requires a cooling-off period of 30 days for couples before a divorce is filed.
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According to critics, the new law is a way to discourage divorce in a country that values ’family harmony’.
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Some couples are so desperate that they turn to scalpers to jump to the front of the queue for divorce lawyers.
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Chinese couples are in a hurry to file for divorce before a new law comes into force that could make the divorce a much more difficult and lengthy process.
The new law, which was approved in May last year but is only now coming into force, requires couples to “cool off” for a period of 30 days before filing for divorce. If either side of the couple decides to end the divorce during the period, the aggrieved party must reapply for divorce and the 30-day watch begins again.
Cheng Xiao, vice president and professor at Tsinghua University School of Law, said the law was intended to limit ‘impulsive’ divorces.
“They may have been arguing over family matters and they are divorcing in a rage. After that, they may regret it. We need to prevent this kind of impulsive divorce,” he told a Chengdu newspaper.
Some people see the move as a way for China, a country that places ‘family harmony’ at the center of its culture, to discourage frustrated couples from falling apart. Chinese leadership had hoped the quarantine would lead to a baby boom, but experts say the country’s population will soon face a period of ‘negative growth’.
After the quarantine, many Chinese couples remain eager to escape from each other, so much so that the South China Morning Post reports in some cases that online scalpers make money by selling appointment slots with divorce lawyers.
Divorce rates have been steadily rising in China over the past fifteen years, since the rules governing the dissolution of marriages have been relaxed. In 2003, about 1.3 million couples divorced, but by 2018, that number had climbed to 4.5 million, according to Bloomberg.
According to SCMP, the cooling-off law makes exceptions in the case of domestic violence, but lawyers who spoke to the outlet said it would in fact further complicate the victim of domestic violence.
“Men can decide whether they want to divorce or withdraw their application. If a woman wants and the man does not, the woman will then have to sue and hire a lawyer at very personal and financial cost. Many women – especially full-fledged – time housewives – are unable to do so, ‘Zhong Wen, a divorce lawyer in Sichuan province, told the outlet.
China, he added, does not have a strong network of shelters and resources for domestic violence, which means that even if a woman manages to get away from her abusive spouse, she can go nowhere.
Dozens of U.S. states also require waiting periods, while most states require between 30 and 60 days to file. Ohio, New York, Wyoming, Virginia, Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey, Minnesota, Alaska and Maine do not require a waiting period at all, while Maryland does require a full year.
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