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Certified Chinese Legal Separation Translation
Certified translation of the documents that record a legal separation in China, including the registry annotations and endorsements that carry the legal effect and that a reader unfamiliar with the system will otherwise skip.
$24.95/page
Flat rate per page, up to 250 words. No hidden fees.
100% USCIS acceptance
Every certified translation is guaranteed to be accepted by USCIS.
24-hour delivery
Most 1-3 page documents are delivered within 24 hours. Same-day available.
No legal separation, and a thirty-day cooling-off period
Chinese law provides no legal separation. What it has, since the Civil Code took effect in 2021, is a thirty-day cooling-off period for divorce by agreement: the couple registers, waits thirty days, and both must return within a further thirty days to collect the certificate.
If either fails to return, the application lapses. So a Chinese file may contain a registration with no certificate, which means the divorce did not happen rather than that a document is missing.
The divorce certificate, and the agreement
An agreed divorce produces a 离婚证 — a divorce certificate booklet — issued by the civil affairs bureau, together with the divorce agreement dealing with property and children.
A litigated divorce produces a court judgment or a mediation document instead, and those look nothing alike. We name the instrument and the issuing body.
Two years apart is a ground
Chinese law treats separation for two years as evidence that affection has broken down, which is a ground for a litigated divorce. So separation has legal consequence without being a legal status.
Evidence of the separation date is a lease, a residence registration, or witness statements. We name each document for what it is rather than calling it a separation record.
The hukou, and the chops
A divorce is reflected in the hukou, the household register, and the marital status field there is what many Chinese institutions read. The hukou page may be the document a foreign office actually needs.
Chinese documents are authenticated with a red chop rather than a signature, and the chop is what makes the document the issuing body's act. We describe it and translate its text. See our Chinese page.
Ordering, and what the certification covers
Upload the document, choose certified translation at $24.95 per page of up to 250 words, and it comes back typically within 24 hours as a PDF formatted to mirror the original, with a signed certificate of translation accuracy on letterhead. Marginal annotations are translated in place, in the margin, and every seal, stamp and registry endorsement is translated with the text. See how we translate and certified versus standard.
Frequently asked questions
Where is my Chinese separation decree?
There is not one. China has no legal separation, though two years apart is a ground for divorce.
We registered a divorce but have no certificate.
The thirty-day cooling-off period applies and both must return to collect it. If neither did, the divorce did not happen.
Certificate or judgment?
An agreed divorce produces a certificate booklet from the civil affairs bureau; a litigated one produces a court judgment or mediation document.
What does the hukou show?
The marital status field, which many Chinese institutions read. It may be the document a foreign office needs.
Ready to get started?
Upload the document and receive the certified translation, typically within 24 hours.