US EditionJapan Revises Civil Code to Allow Joint Custody After Divorce
The overhaul lets divorcing couples choose joint or sole custody and adds child-support enforcement measures, including provisional payments of 20,000 yen per child.
- Japan introduced a joint custody system via a revised Civil Code on Wednesday, marking a sweeping overhaul of family law allowing divorced parents to share parental authority for the first time in over a century.
- Addressing global criticism regarding parental child "abductions" and the severance of parent-child relationships after divorce, the revision ends Japan's long-standing sole custody framework that granted authority to only one parent.
- Couples may now choose between joint and sole custody, with the law applying retroactively to those already divorced; parents can act independently on routine matters like meals but must agree on major decisions including education and residence.
- Starting Wednesday, parents can request provisional child support payments of 20,000 yen per month per child if no agreement exists, helping address the growing issue of unpaid child support expenses.
- Protesters recently rallied in Tokyo chanting "No to a system that blocks our escape!" to voice concerns that joint custody may re-traumatize domestic violence survivors through forced ongoing contact with abusers.
43 Articles
43 Articles
Thanks to a new reform, parents awaiting divorce in Japan will be able to legally opt for shared custody. The revised law came into force this Wednesday.
Parents in divorce proceedings in Japan can now share the custody of their children, a right previously reserved to one of the parents, almost always to the mothers, after the entry into force on Wednesday of a new law.
Proponents of the reform emphasize that the new arrangement will allow children to have a more balanced relationship with both parents.
Starting Wednesday, divorced couples in Japan will be able to negotiate joint custody of their children, the first major change to the country's child-rearing laws in more than a century. Until now, Japan's civil code required couples to decide which parent would get custody of their children when they divorced. But pressure from critics, who say the tug-of-war between parents has caused psychological damage to children and unfairly punished the…
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