diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 64dfe72..78863a5 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ For over a year I've wanted to refactor the XML-to-map[string]interface{} decode
 
 <h4>Notices</h4>
 
+	2020.12.14: v2.5 - add XmlCheckIsValid toggle to force checking that the encoded XML is valid
 	2020.12.14: v2.4 - add XMLEscapeCharsDecoder to preserve XML escaped characters in Map values
 	2020.10.28: v2.3 - add TrimWhiteSpace option
 	2020.05.01: v2.2 - optimize map to XML encoding for large XML docs.
diff --git a/xml.go b/xml.go
index a2dbbf1..a551186 100644
--- a/xml.go
+++ b/xml.go
@@ -633,6 +633,20 @@ func XmlDefaultEmptyElemSyntax() {
 	useGoXmlEmptyElemSyntax = false
 }
 
+// ------- issue #88 ----------
+// xmlCheckIsValid set switch to force decoding the encoded XML to
+// see if it is valid XML.
+var xmlCheckIsValid bool
+
+// XmlCheckIsValid forces the encoded XML to be checked for validity.
+func XmlCheckIsValid(b ...bool) {
+	if len(b) == 1 {
+		xmlCheckIsValid = b[0]
+		return
+	}
+	 xmlCheckIsValid = !xmlCheckIsValid
+}
+
 // Encode a Map as XML.  The companion of NewMapXml().
 // The following rules apply.
 //    - The key label "#text" is treated as the value for a simple element with attributes.
@@ -679,6 +693,11 @@ func (mv Map) Xml(rootTag ...string) ([]byte, error) {
 		err = marshalMapToXmlIndent(false, b, DefaultRootTag, m, p)
 	}
 done:
+	if xmlCheckIsValid {
+		if _, err = NewMapXml(b.Bytes()); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
 	return b.Bytes(), err
 }
 
@@ -917,6 +936,11 @@ func (mv Map) XmlIndent(prefix, indent string, rootTag ...string) ([]byte, error
 	} else {
 		err = marshalMapToXmlIndent(true, b, DefaultRootTag, m, p)
 	}
+	if xmlCheckIsValid {
+		if _, err = NewMapXml(b.Bytes()); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
 	return b.Bytes(), err
 }
 
diff --git a/xmlseq.go b/xmlseq.go
index 559b028..6427d0f 100644
--- a/xmlseq.go
+++ b/xmlseq.go
@@ -447,6 +447,11 @@ func (mv MapSeq) Xml(rootTag ...string) ([]byte, error) {
 		err = mapToXmlSeqIndent(false, s, DefaultRootTag, m, p)
 	}
 done:
+	if xmlCheckIsValid {
+		if _, err = NewMapXml([]byte(*s)); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
 	return []byte(*s), err
 }
 
@@ -535,6 +540,11 @@ func (mv MapSeq) XmlIndent(prefix, indent string, rootTag ...string) ([]byte, er
 	} else {
 		err = mapToXmlSeqIndent(true, s, DefaultRootTag, m, p)
 	}
+	if xmlCheckIsValid {
+		if _, err = NewMapXml([]byte(*s)); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
 	return []byte(*s), err
 }