Provisional Minutes of the 29th Meeting of the Family Law Subcommittee of theLegislative Council (provisional translation)
On July 18, 2023, the 29th 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. OMURA Atsushi,presided over the meeting.
The Subcommittee reviewed and deliberated the pending issues on divorce and therelated systems for the third round, with reference to the previous discussions, publiccomments, and the results of the interviews. During the meeting, the Subcommittee
discussed the following issues based on the meeting materials.
First, discussions were held on the rules concerning child support payments, such as 1)
the rule concerning child support payments provided for by law (a procedure for accepting
a claim for a certain amount of child support payment as a remedy for parents getting a
divorce by agreement without a child support agreement) and 2) the rule that enables
multiple civil execution proceedings by filing a claim just once, as measures to reducethe burden on creditors in civil execution proceedings for child support payments.
As for 1), many members and non-voting members agreed that this procedure isnecessary, but it was also pointed out that the legal nature of the procedure needs to becarefully reviewed, that the burden on debtors and due process of law also need to betaken into consideration, and that some of the methods to set the requirements andmeasure the effectiveness may decrease the willingness of parents to negotiate childcustody arrangements. As for 2), many members and non-voting members agreed toestablish procedures that enable multiple civil execution proceedings (the procedures forinvestigation into the debtor’s assets and the judicial enforcement based on thoseprocedures) if a claim is filed by a creditor. However, it was also suggested that even if
such procedures were established, they should be able to respond to cases where, forexample, more than one asset was found in the asset investigation process, and thatconsideration should be given to the types of assets targeted for this system should betaken into consideration in designing the process.
Second, discussions were held on 3) the rules concerning parent-child visitation when
the parents are married, and 4) the rules concerning the judicial proceedings for parentchild visitation. As for 3), many members and non-voting members agreed to clarify thecurrent court proceedings, to which Article 766 of the Civil Code applies mutatis
mutandis. As for 4), many members and non-voting members agreed to establish a rulethat in judicial proceedings for parent-child visitation, the court may encourage persons
concerned to conduct a trial for parent-child visitation hearing to determine the facts undercertain conditions, and that the court may order a family court investigating officer tocheck the implementation status of the trial or may require both persons concerned to givea report on the results. On the other hand, there were different views regarding how to set
requirements for parent-child visitation and third-party involvement in the judicialproceedings.
※These provisional minutes are the summarized results of the subcommittee meeting and are to beprovided by the Secretariat of the Subcommittee in both Japanese and English on an as-neededbasis. The official meeting minutes (in Japanese) will be published at a later date.