Family Law Archives - Page 11 of 14

April 6, 2016

Is there any way to secure visitation rights through the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction?

In addition to cases seeking the return of an abducted child, the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction also accepts applications to ensure the effective exercise of rights of access and visitation for non-custodial parents. For parents who have not been receiving adequate visitation with their abducted child, either through letters, emails, phone or video calls, this is a powerful tool to ensure visitation is maintained.

March 9, 2016

How does marriage affect separate and joint property in Japan?

Marriage in Japan, like many other parts of the world, acts not only as a social union but as an economic one as well. In generally, husband and wife are expected to share property as one joint economic unit. However, even after marriage there are certain objects that couples like to think of as solely their own and to some extent the law recognizes this.

March 7, 2016

Is there a waiting period for women to remarry after a divorce?

Under statutory law in Japan, a woman must wait six months after the end of her previous marriage before she can remarry. This applies whether it was the husband or the wife who petitioned for divorce. This law was originally designed to allow for time to clearly establish the father of any children born to the newly divorced wife, however, as technology has advanced, this 6 month waiting period has become less and less relevant. Therefore, in a recent decision, the Japanese Supreme Court ordered that the 6 month waiting period was unconstitutional. However, to many women’s dismay, the court did […]

February 24, 2016

What is the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction?

The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is the main international treaty targeted at the problem of children being removed from their home country by one parent without the other parent’s permission. The main goal of the Hague Convention is to return things to the way they were before the wrongful abduction. Therefore, courts hearing cases arising under the Hague Convention should not consider the best interests of the child. Rather, ideally the court should only be considering whether removal of the child was wrongful.