diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardCoordinator.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardCoordinator.scala
index f9c6e7e2ae..12bc13c9c5 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardCoordinator.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardCoordinator.scala
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ abstract class ShardCoordinator(typeName: String, settings: ClusterShardingSetti
   import settings.tuningParameters._
 
   val cluster = Cluster(context.system)
-  val removalMargin = cluster.settings.DownRemovalMargin
+  val removalMargin = cluster.downingProvider.downRemovalMargin
 
   var state = State.empty.withRememberEntities(settings.rememberEntities)
   var rebalanceInProgress = Set.empty[ShardId]
diff --git a/akka-cluster-tools/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/singleton/ClusterSingletonManager.scala b/akka-cluster-tools/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/singleton/ClusterSingletonManager.scala
index 1371f88b13..975c79083d 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-tools/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/singleton/ClusterSingletonManager.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-tools/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/singleton/ClusterSingletonManager.scala
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ class ClusterSingletonManager(
     s"This cluster member [${cluster.selfAddress}] doesn't have the role [$role]")
 
   val removalMargin =
-    if (settings.removalMargin <= Duration.Zero) cluster.settings.DownRemovalMargin
+    if (settings.removalMargin <= Duration.Zero) cluster.downingProvider.downRemovalMargin
     else settings.removalMargin
 
   val (maxHandOverRetries, maxTakeOverRetries) = {
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 0decb2e58e..3dc83b0db4 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ akka {
     # Using auto-down implies that two separate clusters will automatically be
     # formed in case of network partition.
     # Disable with "off" or specify a duration to enable auto-down.
+    # If a downing-provider-class is configured this setting is ignored.
     auto-down-unreachable-after = off
     
     # Time margin after which shards or singletons that belonged to a downed/removed
@@ -40,6 +41,15 @@ akka {
     # Disable with "off" or specify a duration to enable.
     down-removal-margin = off
 
+    # Pluggable support for downing of nodes in the cluster.
+    # If this setting is left empty behaviour will depend on 'auto-down-unreachable' in the following ways:
+    # * if it is 'off' the `NoDowning` provider is used and no automatic downing will be performed
+    # * if it is set to a duration the `AutoDowning` provider is with the configured downing duration
+    #
+    # If specified the value must be the fully qualified class name of a subclass of
+    # `akka.cluster.DowningProvider` having a public one argument constructor accepting an `ActorSystem`
+    downing-provider-class = ""
+
     # By default, the leader will not move 'Joining' members to 'Up' during a network
     # split. This feature allows the leader to accept 'Joining' members to be 'WeaklyUp'
     # so they become part of the cluster even during a network split. The leader will
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/AutoDown.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/AutoDown.scala
index e183f3e5ab..b06b4bfc14 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/AutoDown.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/AutoDown.scala
@@ -3,14 +3,13 @@
  */
 package akka.cluster
 
-import akka.actor.Actor
+import akka.ConfigurationException
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorSystem, Address, Cancellable, Props, Scheduler }
+
 import scala.concurrent.duration.FiniteDuration
-import akka.actor.Props
 import akka.cluster.ClusterEvent._
-import akka.actor.Cancellable
+
 import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration
-import akka.actor.Address
-import akka.actor.Scheduler
 
 /**
  * INTERNAL API
@@ -23,6 +22,24 @@ private[cluster] object AutoDown {
   final case class UnreachableTimeout(node: UniqueAddress)
 }
 
+/**
+ * Used when no custom provider is configured and 'auto-down-unreachable-after' is enabled.
+ */
+final class AutoDowning(system: ActorSystem) extends DowningProvider {
+
+  private def clusterSettings = Cluster(system).settings
+
+  override def downRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration = clusterSettings.DownRemovalMargin
+
+  override def downingActorProps: Option[Props] =
+    clusterSettings.AutoDownUnreachableAfter match {
+      case d: FiniteDuration ⇒ Some(AutoDown.props(d))
+      case _ ⇒
+        // I don't think this can actually happen
+        throw new ConfigurationException("AutoDowning downing provider selected but 'akka.cluster.auto-down-unreachable-after' not set")
+    }
+}
+
 /**
  * INTERNAL API
  *
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/Cluster.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/Cluster.scala
index 72401e9b5f..013ce73485 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/Cluster.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/Cluster.scala
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ class Cluster(val system: ExtendedActorSystem) extends Extension {
     new DefaultFailureDetectorRegistry(() ⇒ createFailureDetector())
   }
 
+  // needs to be lazy to allow downing provider impls to access Cluster (if not we get deadlock)
+  lazy val downingProvider: DowningProvider =
+    DowningProvider.load(settings.DowningProviderClassName, system)
+
   // ========================================================
   // ===================== WORK DAEMONS =====================
   // ========================================================
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDaemon.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDaemon.scala
index 3e2acdfae9..185004856a 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDaemon.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDaemon.scala
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ private[cluster] object InternalClusterAction {
 
   /**
    * Command to join the cluster. Sent when a node wants to join another node (the receiver).
+   *
    * @param node the node that wants to join the cluster
    */
   @SerialVersionUID(1L)
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ private[cluster] object InternalClusterAction {
 
   /**
    * Reply to Join
+   *
    * @param from the sender node in the cluster, i.e. the node that received the Join command
    */
   @SerialVersionUID(1L)
@@ -293,10 +295,12 @@ private[cluster] class ClusterCoreDaemon(publisher: ActorRef) extends Actor with
   override def preStart(): Unit = {
     context.system.eventStream.subscribe(self, classOf[QuarantinedEvent])
 
-    AutoDownUnreachableAfter match {
-      case d: FiniteDuration ⇒
-        context.actorOf(AutoDown.props(d) withDispatcher (context.props.dispatcher), name = "autoDown")
-      case _ ⇒ // auto-down is disabled
+    cluster.downingProvider.downingActorProps.foreach { props ⇒
+      val propsWithDispatcher =
+        if (props.dispatcher == Deploy.NoDispatcherGiven) props.withDispatcher(context.props.dispatcher)
+        else props
+
+      context.actorOf(propsWithDispatcher, name = "downingProvider")
     }
 
     if (seedNodes.isEmpty)
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala
index f55d02ae94..711e7de8da 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala
@@ -6,12 +6,14 @@ package akka.cluster
 import scala.collection.immutable
 import com.typesafe.config.Config
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigObject
+
 import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration
 import akka.actor.Address
 import akka.actor.AddressFromURIString
 import akka.dispatch.Dispatchers
 import akka.util.Helpers.Requiring
 import akka.util.Helpers.ConfigOps
+
 import scala.concurrent.duration.FiniteDuration
 import akka.japi.Util.immutableSeq
 import java.util.Locale
@@ -58,6 +60,7 @@ final class ClusterSettings(val config: Config, val systemName: String) {
     }
   }
 
+  // specific to the [[akka.cluster.DefaultDowningProvider]]
   val AutoDownUnreachableAfter: Duration = {
     val key = "auto-down-unreachable-after"
     cc.getString(key).toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT) match {
@@ -66,6 +69,12 @@ final class ClusterSettings(val config: Config, val systemName: String) {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @deprecated Specific to [[akka.cluster.AutoDown]] should not be used anywhere else, instead
+   *   ``Cluster.downingProvider.downRemovalMargin`` should be used as it allows the downing provider to decide removal
+   *   margins
+   */
+  @deprecated("Use Cluster.downingProvider.downRemovalMargin", since = "2.4.5")
   val DownRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration = {
     val key = "down-removal-margin"
     cc.getString(key).toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT) match {
@@ -74,6 +83,13 @@ final class ClusterSettings(val config: Config, val systemName: String) {
     }
   }
 
+  val DowningProviderClassName: String = {
+    val name = cc.getString("downing-provider-class")
+    if (name.nonEmpty) name
+    else if (AutoDownUnreachableAfter.isFinite()) classOf[AutoDowning].getName
+    else classOf[NoDowning].getName
+  }
+
   val AllowWeaklyUpMembers = cc.getBoolean("allow-weakly-up-members")
 
   val Roles: Set[String] = immutableSeq(cc.getStringList("roles")).toSet
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/DowningProvider.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/DowningProvider.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b307902617
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/DowningProvider.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2016 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.cluster
+
+import akka.ConfigurationException
+import akka.actor.{ ActorSystem, ExtendedActorSystem, Props }
+import com.typesafe.config.Config
+
+import scala.concurrent.duration.{ Duration, FiniteDuration }
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+private[cluster] object DowningProvider {
+
+  /**
+   * @param fqcn Fully qualified class name of the implementation to be loaded.
+   * @param system Actor system used to load the implemntation
+   * @return the provider or throws a [[akka.ConfigurationException]] if loading it fails
+   */
+  def load(fqcn: String, system: ActorSystem): DowningProvider = {
+    val eas = system.asInstanceOf[ExtendedActorSystem]
+    eas.dynamicAccess.createInstanceFor[DowningProvider](
+      fqcn,
+      List((classOf[ActorSystem], system))).recover {
+        case e ⇒ throw new ConfigurationException(
+          s"Could not create cluster downing provider [$fqcn]", e)
+      }.get
+  }
+
+}
+
+/**
+ * API for plugins that will handle downing of cluster nodes. Concrete plugins must subclass and
+ * have a public one argument constructor accepting an [[akka.actor.ActorSystem]].
+ */
+abstract class DowningProvider {
+
+  /**
+   * Time margin after which shards or singletons that belonged to a downed/removed
+   * partition are created in surviving partition. The purpose of this margin is that
+   * in case of a network partition the persistent actors in the non-surviving partitions
+   * must be stopped before corresponding persistent actors are started somewhere else.
+   * This is useful if you implement downing strategies that handle network partitions,
+   * e.g. by keeping the larger side of the partition and shutting down the smaller side.
+   */
+  def downRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration
+
+  /**
+   * If a props is returned it is created as a child of the core cluster daemon on cluster startup.
+   * It should then handle downing using the regular [[akka.cluster.Cluster]] APIs.
+   * The actor will run on the same dispatcher as the cluster actor if dispatcher not configured.
+   *
+   * May throw an exception which will then immediately lead to Cluster stopping, as the downing
+   * provider is vital to a working cluster.
+   */
+  def downingActorProps: Option[Props]
+
+}
+
+/**
+ * Default downing provider used when no provider is configured and 'auto-down-unreachable-after'
+ * is not enabled.
+ */
+final class NoDowning(system: ActorSystem) extends DowningProvider {
+  override def downRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration = Cluster(system).settings.DownRemovalMargin
+  override val downingActorProps: Option[Props] = None
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/DowningProviderSpec.scala b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/DowningProviderSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..87025c791b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/DowningProviderSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2016 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.cluster
+
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
+
+import akka.ConfigurationException
+import akka.actor.{ ActorSystem, Props }
+import akka.testkit.TestKit.{ awaitCond, shutdownActorSystem }
+import akka.testkit.{ TestKit, TestProbe }
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+import org.scalatest.concurrent.Futures
+import org.scalatest.{ Matchers, WordSpec }
+
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
+
+class FailingDowningProvider(system: ActorSystem) extends DowningProvider {
+  override val downRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration = 20.seconds
+  override def downingActorProps: Option[Props] = {
+    throw new ConfigurationException("this provider never works")
+  }
+}
+
+class DummyDowningProvider(system: ActorSystem) extends DowningProvider {
+  override val downRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration = 20.seconds
+
+  val actorPropsAccessed = new AtomicBoolean(false)
+  override val downingActorProps: Option[Props] = {
+    actorPropsAccessed.set(true)
+    None
+  }
+}
+
+class DowningProviderSpec extends WordSpec with Matchers {
+
+  val baseConf = ConfigFactory.parseString(
+    """
+      akka {
+        loglevel = WARNING
+        actor.provider = "akka.cluster.ClusterActorRefProvider"
+        remote {
+          netty.tcp {
+            hostname = "127.0.0.1"
+            port = 0
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    """).withFallback(ConfigFactory.load())
+
+  "The downing provider mechanism" should {
+
+    "default to akka.cluster.NoDowning" in {
+      val system = ActorSystem("default", baseConf)
+      Cluster(system).downingProvider shouldBe an[NoDowning]
+      shutdownActorSystem(system)
+    }
+
+    "use akka.cluster.AutoDowning if 'auto-down-unreachable-after' is configured" in {
+      val system = ActorSystem("auto-downing", ConfigFactory.parseString(
+        """
+          akka.cluster.auto-down-unreachable-after = 18d
+        """).withFallback(baseConf))
+      Cluster(system).downingProvider shouldBe an[AutoDowning]
+      shutdownActorSystem(system)
+    }
+
+    "use the specified downing provider" in {
+      val system = ActorSystem("auto-downing", ConfigFactory.parseString(
+        """
+          akka.cluster.downing-provider-class="akka.cluster.DummyDowningProvider"
+        """).withFallback(baseConf))
+
+      Cluster(system).downingProvider shouldBe a[DummyDowningProvider]
+      awaitCond(Cluster(system).downingProvider.asInstanceOf[DummyDowningProvider].actorPropsAccessed.get(), 3.seconds)
+      shutdownActorSystem(system)
+    }
+
+    "stop the cluster if the downing provider throws exception in props method" in {
+      val system = ActorSystem("auto-downing", ConfigFactory.parseString(
+        """
+          akka.cluster.downing-provider-class="akka.cluster.FailingDowningProvider"
+        """).withFallback(baseConf))
+      val cluster = Cluster(system)
+      cluster.join(cluster.selfAddress)
+
+      awaitCond(cluster.isTerminated, 3.seconds)
+      shutdownActorSystem(system)
+    }
+
+  }
+}