2024 Family Law Reform in Japan
-Overview of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Act -
May 2024
Civil Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Justice
Background
A. Issues
- Serious impact on the upbringing of children.
- Diversification of the circumstances of upbringing of children.
- Less likelihood for divorced parents to agree on child support payments and to conduct parent-child visitation.
- Demand for divorced parents to fulfill their responsibility to raise their children in an appropriate manner.
B. Legislative Process
- February 2021: Consultation of the Legislative Council by the Justice Minister
- February 2024: Proposal by the Legislative Council
- March 2024: Cabinet decision on the bill
- May 2024: Approval by the Diet and promulgation
• Slated to take effect within two years of promulgation.
I. Responsibilities of parents
• Under the Amended Civil Act and other related Acts (Amended Act),
1. The responsibilities of parents to their child should be fulfilled in the
best interests of the child, regardless of whether or not they are
married.
2. Parents should respect:
- a child’s personality for healthy psychological and physical
development,
- each other's personality so that they can cooperate with each other.
II. Parental responsibilities and child custody
A. Who should exercise parental responsibility after divorce?
1. When the parents agree to divorce, they may also agree on whether parental responsibility should be
exercised jointly or assigned to one parent.
2. If they cannot agree on parental responsibility, courts may grant joint or sole parental responsibility.
3. The court must grant parental responsibility to one parent if the child’s interests would be harmed by
granting both parents parental responsibility. This includes cases where:
- granting both parents parental responsibility could possibly lead to abuse of the child or domestic
violence physically or psychologically.
- joint parental responsibility is impractical under the circumstances.
4. In changing who has parental responsibility, the court shall take into account various factors including
how the parents reached their agreement, so as to ensure that the agreement was made in the best
interests of the child.
B. How should parental responsibility be exercised when it has been granted to both parents?
Under the Amended Act,
1. In principle, parental responsibility shall be exercised jointly.
2. However, it can be exercised solely when there are:
- urgent circumstances for the best interests of the child, such as escaping from domestic
violence/abuse or seeking medical treatment in an emergency.
- daily needs related to child custody and education, including personal care of the child.
3. If there are conflicts in exercising parental responsibility between parents, they may rely on
court procedure to resolve their conflicts.
C. Child custody
The Amended Act establishes rules regarding
-Shared child custody and
-Rights and duties of custodians
III. Child support payments
• In order to ensure child support payments are fulfilled, the Amended Act
introduced new legal procedures in which a divorced parent (creditor) may:
1. Initiate the enforcement proceedings without an award (judicial
decision that orders the debtor to pay) through priority rights (liens).
2. Seek child support payments even when there is no agreement on the
payments thereof between the parents.
3. Make more efficient use of judicial procedures including application for
enforcement and asset disclosure proceedings.
IV. Parent-child visitation
• In order to ensure safe and secure parent-child visitations, the Amended Act
established new rules regarding different types of parent-child visitations as
follows:
1 Trial parent-child visitation: trial visitations prior to court decision or
mediation as part of the court proceeding.
2 Parent-child visitations for spouses: visitations between a child and married
parents living separately.
3 Relative-child visitations: visitations between a child and grandparents or
other relatives.
V. Other Revision
A. Adoption
The Amended Act clarifies rules concerning adoption and parental responsibility such as:
- who has parental responsibility for an adopted child.
- requirements to adopt a child under 15.
B. Distribution of property
Regarding distribution of property after divorce, under the Amended Act,
- The period is extended from two years to five years within which the divorced couple may seek
distribution of property.
- The court shall take into account various codified factors including the parents’ contributions (which is
presumed to be equal).
C. Others
The Amended Act revised the provisions regarding marital contracts and grounds for divorce in court.