Suspension due to Force Majeure in Divorce Registration
Suspension due to Force Majeure in Divorce Registration
What are the consequences in case of a force majeure event after you have filed a petition for divorce registration?
According to the Reply to Issues Relating to Divorce Registration during the Epidemic Period issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the time period for deciding on a case for divorce registration shall be suspended over the period of duration of epidemic prevention and control or any other force majeure event if a marriage registration authority suspends marriage and divorce registration businesses and the petitioners for divorce registration are not granted divorce certificates during the period specified in the second paragraph of Article 1077 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China.
Note: the second paragraph of Article 1077 states,
"Within 30 days upon the expiration of the period specified in the preceding paragraph, both spouses shall appear in person before the marriage registration authority to apply for divorce certificates, failing which the application for divorce registration shall be deemed to have been withdrawn."
Upon elimination of the cause for suspension, the marriage registration authority shall promptly publish an announcement of resumption of marriage registration business, and the time period shall continue to be counted from the date of the announcement. The marriage registration authority will extend the time period for divorce registration for the petitioning parties.
Robert Zhang 
Steve Li 