diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingFailureSpec.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingFailureSpec.scala
index 1cb5809e4b..07a612aa98 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingFailureSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingFailureSpec.scala
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ abstract class ClusterShardingFailureSpecConfig(val mode: String) extends MultiN
     akka.actor.provider = "akka.cluster.ClusterActorRefProvider"
     akka.remote.log-remote-lifecycle-events = off
     akka.cluster.auto-down-unreachable-after = 0s
-    akka.cluster.down-removal-margin = 5s
     akka.cluster.roles = ["backend"]
     akka.persistence.journal.plugin = "akka.persistence.journal.leveldb-shared"
     akka.persistence.journal.leveldb-shared {
diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingLeavingSpec.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingLeavingSpec.scala
index c9dcc0bf9e..f236cce3cc 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingLeavingSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingLeavingSpec.scala
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ abstract class ClusterShardingLeavingSpecConfig(val mode: String) extends MultiN
     akka.actor.provider = "akka.cluster.ClusterActorRefProvider"
     akka.remote.log-remote-lifecycle-events = off
     akka.cluster.auto-down-unreachable-after = 0s
-    akka.cluster.down-removal-margin = 5s
     akka.persistence.journal.plugin = "akka.persistence.journal.leveldb-shared"
     akka.persistence.journal.leveldb-shared {
       timeout = 5s
diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingSpec.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingSpec.scala
index 9a3aeeb5de..ef373bdcac 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ClusterShardingSpec.scala
@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ abstract class ClusterShardingSpecConfig(val mode: String) extends MultiNodeConf
     akka.actor.provider = "akka.cluster.ClusterActorRefProvider"
     akka.remote.log-remote-lifecycle-events = off
     akka.cluster.auto-down-unreachable-after = 0s
-    akka.cluster.down-removal-margin = 5s
     akka.cluster.roles = ["backend"]
     akka.cluster.distributed-data.gossip-interval = 1s
     akka.persistence.journal.plugin = "akka.persistence.journal.leveldb-shared"
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 a5de20b42f..de74de1f82 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
@@ -556,8 +556,11 @@ class ClusterSingletonManager(
   }
 
   def scheduleDelayedMemberRemoved(m: Member): Unit = {
-    log.debug("Schedule DelayedMemberRemoved for [{}]", m.address)
-    context.system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(removalMargin, self, DelayedMemberRemoved(m))(context.dispatcher)
+    if (removalMargin > Duration.Zero) {
+      log.debug("Schedule DelayedMemberRemoved for [{}]", m.address)
+      context.system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(removalMargin, self, DelayedMemberRemoved(m))(context.dispatcher)
+    } else
+      self ! DelayedMemberRemoved(m)
   }
 
   def gotoOldest(): State = {
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 8b7176fddb..b6f4969801 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -29,11 +29,16 @@ akka {
     # Disable with "off" or specify a duration to enable auto-down.
     auto-down-unreachable-after = off
     
-    # Margin until shards or singletons that belonged to a downed/removed
+    # 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.
-    down-removal-margin = 20s
+    # 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.
+    # It will not add any extra safety for auto-down-unreachable-after, since that is not
+    # handling network partitions. 
+    # Disable with "off" or specify a duration to enable.
+    down-removal-margin = off
     
     # The roles of this member. List of strings, e.g. roles = ["A", "B"].
     # The roles are part of the membership information and can be used by
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala
index c37eaa87b8..cb66e13fe1 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterSettings.scala
@@ -69,7 +69,10 @@ final class ClusterSettings(val config: Config, val systemName: String) {
 
   val DownRemovalMargin: FiniteDuration = {
     val key = "down-removal-margin"
-    cc.getMillisDuration(key) requiring (_ > Duration.Zero, key + " > 0s")
+    cc.getString(key).toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT) match {
+      case "off" ⇒ Duration.Zero
+      case _     ⇒ cc.getMillisDuration(key) requiring (_ >= Duration.Zero, key + " >= 0s, or off")
+    }
   }
 
   val Roles: Set[String] = immutableSeq(cc.getStringList("roles")).toSet
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterConfigSpec.scala b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterConfigSpec.scala
index fcc3e3a0d0..84c8eb69f5 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterConfigSpec.scala
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class ClusterConfigSpec extends AkkaSpec {
       UnreachableNodesReaperInterval should ===(1 second)
       PublishStatsInterval should ===(Duration.Undefined)
       AutoDownUnreachableAfter should ===(Duration.Undefined)
+      DownRemovalMargin should ===(Duration.Zero)
       MinNrOfMembers should ===(1)
       MinNrOfMembersOfRole should ===(Map.empty[String, Int])
       Roles should ===(Set.empty[String])