When divorcing under Japanese family law, only one parent has parental rights. This is called “sole parental rights”. It means that one party loses their parental rights in a divorce, even though there were two parents before divorce. (The mother and father jointly hold the parental rights during the marriage.) There is much criticism of […]

The standard for parental rights decisions is “the best interests of the child.” (Section 6, Article 819, Civil Code of Japan) The judge considers and decides based on which would be best for the child. The judge considers and decides, but not arbitrarily. In general, the following items are investigated and considered. In terms of […]

Child support is the expenses required to raise the minor child until he or she becomes independent as an adult. It is not explicitly recognized as such in the provisions of the Civil Code of Japan or any other Japanese family law , but it can be considered a responsibility shared by the husband and […]

There is a standard table of child support calculations for the speedy and fair calculation of child support. It is also used by private practitioners (attorneys). The table is used to find the standard amount of child support. There are cases where the divorcing parties agree according to this standard and achieve a divorce by […]

The table is used as a base for the mediation process. In particular, mediators demand the submission of materials such as salary details that are required to make a determination based on this form. Normally, when these materials are submitted, the amount according to the table is indicated as an opinion at the mediation session. […]

When the parties cannot agree on the divorce itself, or when they agree on the divorce itself but cannot agree on the child support and therefore cannot agree on the divorce, the mediation process is started with the aim of divorcing, and when agreement is not reached through mediation, the case advances to the adjudication […]

Past child support is similarly difficult to collect retroactively, but we believe it is inappropriate that the right to petition is somehow lost if a petition is not made. (Since rights do not disappear unless they disappear by extinctive prescription, this conclusion is somewhat incorrect, isn’t it?) Therefore, an attorney should strongly assert the right […]

Although some think that they can successfully demand the amount of alimony accrued in the past from the time of separation, others consider it retroactive only until the opening of mediation, and at present there are precedents for both views. In general, it is difficult to be paid retroactively, but if “I have not received […]

The Civil Code of Japan includes a provision called the “Duty to maintain standard of living,” that means the husband and wife must help each other so as to maintain an equivalent standard of living. Because of this, there is a duty to share the expenses arising from the marriage according to income and to […]