Author: Kei Sumikawa

If you want a divorce in Japan, legal proceedings which you can select differ by your nationalities etc. Here, we describe about the general divorce proceedings in Japan. There are generally four types of procedure when you want a divorce in Japan.

1）Divorce by agreement

The first step is “divorce by agreement”. In this case, a married couple will discuss about divorce themselves. If they reach an agreement, they can submit the divorce notification (“Rikon Todoke” in Japanese) to the city office, and then the divorce will be established. The couple can freely determine about the distribution of property, but producing a consensus document of the distribution is recommended.

2）Divorce by mediation (“Cho-tei” in Japanese)

The second step is “divorce by mediation”. When the married couple fails to reach an agreement by discussion, either party can request mediation for divorce  (“Rikon Cho-tei“) to the Family Court. At the mediation, one judge and two arbitrators advise on the couple’s divorce. If the couple could reach an agreement in a divorce settlement, divorce is established. The Family Court will make a written record of divorce mediation for you (so that you can bring it to the city office).

3）Divorce by decision of the family court (“Shinpan” in Japanese)

Seldom used.

4) Divorce by trial (“Saiban” in Japanese)

The third step is “divorce by trial”. In case a married couple does not consent to divorce by mediation, the divorce problem is brought to trial. In the trial, both party will stake their claim, and submit evidences to the Family Court. Finally, the judge will decide whether the divorce is admitted or not. Mediation must be conducted before the trial.

When somebody dies, and if he/she leaves debts behind, his/her heirs will have to take over the debts unless they give up their inheritance rights (“Renunciation of Inheritance”).

To give up the inheritance rights in Japan, the heir will have to go to the Family Court to make a statement (you will have to make the statement in Japanese language). There is a time limitation of 3 months, so the heir will have to investigate about the property during this period, and make a decision to renounce the inheritance or not.

3 months is definitely not a long period, so if you became somebody’s heir, you will have to move quickly. If you have any questions about Japanese law, you are suggested to consult an attorney (Bengoshi) as early as you can. Also, attorney (Bengoshi) can handle this procedure at the family court in place of you, if you need.

Civil Code
Article 915　An heir shall give unconditional or qualified acceptance, or renunciation, regarding inheritance within three months of the time he/she has knowledge that there has been a commencement of inheritance for him/her; provided that this period may be extended by the family court on the application of an interested party or a public prosecutor.
(2)　An heir may investigate inherited property before making an acceptance or renunciation of inheritance.

Article 938　A person who intends to renounce inheritance shall make a statement to that effect to the family court.

 

In United States, each state conducts its own bar exam. While in Japan, there is only one bar exam (Shihou Shiken), which is conducted by Japanese government (National Bar Examination Commission).

So, Japanese attorneys (Bengoshi) all have the same qualification and can handle all legal cases throughout Japan. For example, I am a member of Yokohama Bar Association (which is the bar association of Kanagawa prefecture), but I am able to handle the cases anywhere in Japan, from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

Of course it is better to consult an attorney in your own prefecture from the standpoint of travel expenses and time, but if you cannot find an attorney (lawyer) near you, don’t forget that you have an option to hire an attorney in different prefecture.

For non-native speakers who drive a car in Japan, it is a good practice to be prepared with “legal expense insurance” which covers the costs for legal action (attorney fee etc.).

Negotiation about car accident is very frustrating, even for native speakers. Both side may say different things (such as the color of the signal), and the agent of the insurance company are often impolite. If you are not a native speaker in that country, the stress of negotiating will be very very large.

So, you may want to hire an attorney to negotiate in place of you. But in that case, you will have to pay the attorney fee yourself, even if there is no fault on you. You may feel very unfair about this.

This is the reason why there are types of insurance such as “legal expense insurance”. If you are prepared with this type of insurance, the insurance company will pay the attorney fee for you. You can ask your own insurance company if they provide this type of insurance (maybe it is already included in your insurance policy).

Also, it is suggested to get covered with “vehicle insurance” for the damage of your own vehicle. This is because even if you go through a lawsuit and win at last, you cannot get anything if the other driver has no property at all.

Although I am a Japanese speaking attorney living in Japan, my car insurance policy is fully covered including legal expense. If I was living in a foreign country, I would surely like to be much more protected.

This is not only about car drivers. You (or your family) may be involved in an accident when you are walking or riding a bicycle. Insurance companies also provide legal expense cover for non-car damage insurance. If you are interested, I recommend you to check and see.

Previous posts:
Guarantor system in Japan “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin” (1)
Guarantor system in Japan “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin” (2)

“Rentai-Hoshou-Nin” means joint and several guarantor. (Simple “Hoshou-Nin” means guarantor.) There is a big problem with the term several, but I will explain it later.

I wrote about the term “several’ on the previous post. So, what will “several” gurantee mean?

1) When you simply guarantee (“Hoshou-Nin”)

When you simply guarantee somebody’s debt (let’s say 100,000JPY), and if that somebody (the main debtor) found another person to guarantee his debt, so there are 2 guarantors including you, then the amount you will have to pay will be 1/2 (50,000JPY). If there are 4 guarantors, you will just have to pay 1/4 (25,000JPY). This kind of simple guarantor is called simply “Hoshou-Nin” in Japanese.

Also, if the creditor comes to you and says “Pay the money you’ve guaranteed!”, you can say “The main debtor has money in his bank, so please go to him first”. Then, the creditor will first have to go to the main debtor.

2) When you become “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin”

But if you become “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin”, it won’t be like this. No matter how many guarantors there are, you will be responsible to pay the full amount (100,000JPY).

Also, even if the creditor comes to you from the beginning, you can’t say “Go to the main debtor”. The creditor can charge you from the first time.

This will be very important. Here’s an example.

1. You become “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin” when somebody (the main debtor) rents a house in Japan.
2. The main debtor didn’t pay his rental money for 1 year.
3. The main debtor goes back to his country without paying.
4. The house owner comes to you and says “Pay the unpaid rental money”.

In this case, you will have to pay the full amount. Even if the main debtor has a good job in his own country, and he seems to have a lot of money in his bank account, you can’t say “Please charge him first”. You will have to pay the money yourself, and then, you will have to find the main debtor and say “Pay me the money I paid in place of you”. This can be very difficult when the main debtor has gone away from Japan.

3) I am not saying that you should never become a “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin”. In some cases you yourself may need to ask your friend to become your “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin”. But once you become one, you should be very careful if the main debtor is paying his monthly money, and if the main debtor isn’t paying, make solid contact with both the main debtor and the creditor to resolve the situation. You may sometimes have to persuade the main debtor to terminate the lease and leave the house as soon as he can.

Don’t forget, when you become a “Rentai-Hoshou-Nin”, you should be very careful from beginning to end, which is, until the main debtor completes all his paying (if the case is about house rental, you should also confirm that the main debtor has actually left the house).