diff --git a/doc/api/child_process.md b/doc/api/child_process.md
index f4a843fc0966ad..5bba32f240571e 100644
--- a/doc/api/child_process.md
+++ b/doc/api/child_process.md
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ The `child_process.fork()` method is a special case of
 Like [`child_process.spawn()`][], a [`ChildProcess`][] object is returned. The returned
 [`ChildProcess`][] will have an additional communication channel built-in that
 allows messages to be passed back and forth between the parent and child. See
-[`subprocess.send()`][] for details.
+[`subprocess.send()`][] for details.  
 
 It is important to keep in mind that spawned Node.js child processes are
 independent of the parent with exception of the IPC communication channel
@@ -356,6 +356,9 @@ output on this fd is expected to be line delimited JSON objects.
 *Note*: Unlike the fork(2) POSIX system call, `child_process.fork()` does
 not clone the current process.
 
+*Note*: The `shell` option available in [`child_process.spawn()`][] is not
+supported by `child_process.fork()` and will be ignored if set.
+
 ### child_process.spawn(command[, args][, options])
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.1.90
diff --git a/lib/child_process.js b/lib/child_process.js
index 80914b165fc672..870e603a11e1d5 100644
--- a/lib/child_process.js
+++ b/lib/child_process.js
@@ -93,7 +93,10 @@ exports.fork = function(modulePath /*, args, options*/) {
   }
 
   options.execPath = options.execPath || process.execPath;
-
+  
+  // Make sure we don't try to open a shell when we fork
+  options.shell = false;
+  
   return spawn(options.execPath, args, options);
 };
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-child-process-fork-noshell.js b/test/parallel/test-child-process-fork-noshell.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..b88a2e71e3e997
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-child-process-fork-noshell.js
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+// Copyright Joyent, Inc. and other Node contributors.
+//
+// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+// copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+// "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+// without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+// distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
+// persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
+// following conditions:
+//
+// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+// in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+//
+// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+// OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+// MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN
+// NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
+// DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
+// OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
+// USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+'use strict';
+require('../common');
+const child_process = require('child_process');
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+
+//As per: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/13983 should produce no error output
+
+child_process.fork(fixtures.path('empty.js'), { shell: true });