Provisional Minutes of the 33rd Meeting of the Family Law Subcommittee of the
Legislative Council (provisional translation)
On November 14, 2023, the 33rd meeting of the Family Law Subcommittee of the
Legislative Council was held at the Ministry of Justice (in person and online). Nearly all
the members and non-voting members attended the meeting. The Chairman, Prof.
OMURAAtsushi, presided over the meeting.
The Subcommittee discussed the pending issues based on the second draft and the
supplementary explanation thereof.
With regard to the rules concerning child support payments, many members and non-
voting members expressed their support for the essential point in item 3 of the second
draft. However, with regard to the proposal for statutory child support payment, some
members suggested that the requirements should include "parents are unable to negotiate
the arrangements" and "parent (the claimant) does not refuse parent-child visitation" etc.,
and to decrease the extent to which the family court may reduce or release the financial
obligations of the debtor (parent living separately), taking their ability to pay into
consideration.
In addition, they suggested a change in the proposal so that the family court may issue
an order requiring the disclosure of information in cases of marital (divorce) mediation.
Regarding the rules to reduce petitioner’s burden in civil execution proceedings
(procedures permitting the petitioner to file a single application to disclose assets, acquire
information from a third party, and seize assets by deeming that each application was
made in sequence in certain cases), they suggested that the rules should be only applied
to a claim for monthly salary paid to the parent living separately.
With regard to the rules concerning parent-child visitation, many members and non-
voting members expressed their support for the essential point in item 4 of the second
draft, while some members and non-voting members suggested that a family court
investigation officer and a third party must be present when parent-child visitation is
conducted on a trial basis. Some members and non-voting members expressed concern
about establishing rules concerning visitation between a third party other than the parent
and the child.
Moreover, the Subcommittee discussed the rules concerning adoption and the rules
concerning equitable distribution of property, and with regard to some pending issues,
some members and non-voting members suggested changes in the specific rules included
in the second draft.
At its next meeting, the Subcommittee will mainly discuss the pending issues to which
the members and non-voting members expressed opposition or suggested changes in the
32nd and 33rd meetings.
※(注記)These provisional minutes are the summarized results of the subcommittee meeting and are to be
provided by the Secretariat of the Subcommittee in both Japanese and English on an as-needed
basis. The official meeting minutes (in Japanese) will be published at a later date.