Getting a divorce is an absolute nightmare. It involves continuous stress, sleepless nights, expensive attorneys, a lot of lost time, and money. Above all, the emotional trauma of an ending relationship is depressing. As the rate of divorce continues to rise, the Yibin People’s Court got concerned over the hundreds of applications they were receiving. One magistrate at the court in Sichuan province sought out the solution by suggesting the idea of divorce exams.
If you thought that getting a divorce was hard, it only gets harder at the Yibin People’s court where the couple has to fail an exam to get their divorce application approved. Wang Shiyu is the judge at the court who noticed that divorce applications form a major chunk of court cases. All he wanted to do was to ensure that people think clearly before getting a divorce. They must see through the good times they spent together.
The exam comprises of a series of questions for both the husband and wife. Both of them answer the questions separately and a score less than 60 guarantees divorce. However, if the couple scores above this, they have to reconsider the idea of keeping their marriage, horrible as it may sound!
Judge Wang did not wish to inflict problems on the couple. Instead, he tried to figure out the possibility of a peaceful solution.
“Our intention is to know the real marriage status of the couple involved. They might also examine themselves and give consideration to the other half. After recalling bits and pieces of their marriage, they will be more rational towards it,” he says.
“As a country with a population of more than a million, the court in Yibin receives hundreds of cases each year, with half of them being domestic ones. Divorce cases account for a large percentage. As I also have a family and a child, when I’m dealing with these cases, I don’t want to see couples getting divorced in haste,” Wang added.
The divorce exam has three parts; fill in the blanks, short questions, and statements. These parts cover the basic information about the family, birthdays, favorite foods, and in-depth information like family roles and responsibilities and the importance of marriage and family. When both partners return the answer sheet, the judge reads and scores them. Interestingly, Wang does not disclose his criteria for marking the exams. Honestly, if he does that, it would kill the purpose, wouldn’t it?
The first couple to go through the process took their exam on September 14, only to score 80 and 86 marks. Obviously, they passed the test but failed to get the divorce. The judge said that the husband had a gambling problem and was disrespectful, but the scores suggested that they should give their marriage another try.
Pretty soon, the divorce exam process went viral online, receiving appreciation as well as criticism from many. The pro-exam people considered it a positive step that makes sure that the couple will not divorce out of impulsiveness. However, some consider it to be a personal matter that the couple is capable of deciding amongst themselves. These people argue that the judges should focus on more serious problems like alimony and child custody.
Well, we cannot say whether this idea will be successful or not. However, we do hope for it to work out!