A child in Shanghai, China, could not be issued a birth certificate and scheduled for vaccinations one year after his birth because the parents couldn’t settle on a name.
The Pudong New Area People’s Court in Shanghai recently heard a divorce case involving a couple who registered their marriage in 2023 and had a healthy baby boy the following year. Everything started going downhill from there because they couldn’t settle on a name for the child. Each party insisted on naming the child according to their own wishes and demanded that the other provide the original documents and a power of attorney, but neither of them gave in. Evidence presented in Court showed that they went to the hospital separately to try to have their preferred name registered for the child, but both attempts were rejected due to non-compliance with regulations.
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“The child is over one year old, but he doesn’t even have a birth certificate. He can’t register his household registration, and even getting vaccinations is difficult,” the judge presiding over the case observed.
The court emphasized that the birth medical certificate is an important basis for a newborn to obtain legal identity. If parents delay the processing due to personal conflicts, it constitutes an infringement on the personal rights of the minor and both parents should be held accountable. It also reminded the parents that they should not use their children as bargaining chips in emotional conflicts, nor should they use disputes to shirk their guardianship obligations.
To protect the fundamental rights of the young child, the court issued a special “Notice of Care for Minor Children,” requiring both parents to cooperate in obtaining a birth certificate within a specified timeframe, but they quickly started arguing over the custody of the original documents. After repeated mediation attempts, it was decided that the original birth certificate be temporarily kept by the court, before being transferred to the mother, so she could handle the mandatory household registration process.
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This unusual divorce case went viral on Chinese social media, leaving many wondering how such a minor issue could ruin a marriage.
“Couples like this should not have children,” one person commented.
“They are just idle. The name can be changed. They are delaying the child and are not reputable parents,” someone else wrote.
