(4) Both the spouses must sign the divorce agreement together. The divorce agreement signed by both spouses is also a form of divorce based on free will. According to Article 11 of the Regulations on Marriage Registration, The parties applying for divorce registration shall provide a "divorce agreement signed by both parties", and "The divorce agreement shall indicate the intention of both parties' divorce out of their free will and their consensus on child support, property division and debt sharing, etc."
(5) Both the spouses have had marriage registered in mainland China. Both parties applying for divorce registration shall have the legal status as husband and wife. For those who live together as husband and wife without registration or have their marriage registered mainland China, their identity as husband and wife or the validity of their marriage certificate needs to be confirmed, but the marriage registration authority does not have the function of such confirmation. Therefore, the marriage registration authority may not accept the divorce application of such people and should inform the applicants to file for divorce proceedings before the people's court.
(6) Both spouses must have the capacity for civil conduct. According to the Regulations on Marriage Registration, The marriage registration authority shall not accept the application for divorce registration filed by any party who is "a person without capacity for civil conduct or with limited capacity for civil conduct". As a person without capacity for civil conduct or with limited capacity for civil conduct is not capable of identifying or fully identifying his/her own acts and truly expressing his/her intentions, any application for divorce filed by such a person is not acceptable to the marriage registration authority. However, it is still a difficult problem for the marriage registration authority to accurately confirm whether an applicant has the capacity for civil conduct.
(7) Each of the spouses shall produce his/her ID card, residence booklet and marriage certificate. The purpose of producing their ID cards is to verify the identity of the parties. The purpose of producing their residence booklets is to verify whether the marriage registration authority has the power to accept the application for divorce registration, i.e., whether the party concerned is applying for divorce registration before the marriage registration authority in the place where his/her residence is located. And the purpose of producing their marriage certificates is to prove that the parties have a legal marriage relationship. If either party has lost his/her marriage certificate, the marriage registration authority may, according to Opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on the Application of the Regulations on Marriage Registration, accept the marriage registration files of such party or the marriage registration record provided by such party, as the evidence of the legal marriage relationship between the parties.
