If I divorce my Japanese spouse in Japan can I expect to get custody or access to the children?
Q. If I divorce my Japanese spouse in Japan can I expect to get custody or access to the children.
A. Regrettably Japan has a very poor record when it comes to child custody. In almost every case full custody will be awarded to the Japanese spouse.
This will happen irregardless of the capability of such a spouse to support themselves or the children. The feeling is that the child living with the Japanese spouse will then be brought up in Japan and have the wider support of the Japanese spouse’s extended family.
Depending on how well or acrimonious the divorce was the non-Japanese spouse may have almost no access to the children despite any court ordered visitation rights. Simply put it all comes down to the willingness of the Japanese spouse to allow access.
Further even should the divorce be overseas and custody granted to the non-Japanese there is a good chance the child or children could be illegally brought back to Japan by the Japanese spouse and access restricted to the non-Japanese spouse
Once the child is with the Japanese spouse and in Japan it’s very much a closed issue as far as the courts are concerned.
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January 9th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Okay, now you’re scaring me! I’m a foreign woman, married to a japanese man, living in Japan. We are considering having a baby, but really - what if we got a divorce in the future, are you seriously telling me, that my (ex-)husband would get full custody of our child??
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:45 pm
If your Japanese spouse wants your child and is not an unemployed drug addict with (preferably multiple) criminal convictions, then experience tells me a Japanese court will give him custody. Many stories here:
http://www.crnjapan.com/people/
http://www.crnjapan.com/articles/
If they don’t, he can abduct your child and hide for a few months, after which the court will legally validate the new status quo.
http://www.crnjapan.com/abduction/
You may want to see this page to look for warning signs in your relationship:
http://www.crnjapan.com/prevention/en/protectselfbeforemarriage.html
Don’t have children if there is any shakiness in the marriage.