Sham marriage with uncle to avoid second-child penalty

Since the beginning of this year, China has allowed all couples to have a second child. However, legal cases stemming from the decades-old, one-child policy remain.

Recently,a woman sued to divorce her uncle in Hancheng Court in Shaanxi province.

The woman married her age-appropriate uncle in July 2015 to avoid the penalty for having a second child and agreed to the precondition that they would end the sham marriage when the baby was registered. Eventually, when the subject of the divorce was raised, the man asked for monetary compensation, which annoyed the woman.

Considering that their relationship was an illegal consanguineous marriage, the court suggested that the plaintiff change the claim to an announcement of the invalidity of the marriage. The court placed the case on file after the woman changed her appeal on Feb 28.