Ex-husband dragged through court system over paternity of post-divorce baby

Mainichi Daily News
January 18, 2007
Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070118p2a00m0na005000c.html

The former husbands of women who give birth within 300 days after their divorce are required to shoulder the heavy burden of going to court to prove that they have no parental relations with the children, a recent case has highlighted.

Article 772 of the Civil Code stipulates that a baby born within 300 days of its parents' divorce is recognized as the child of the ex-husband. To register a child in the family registry of a new husband, the ex-husband must testify in court that he has no parental relation to the child.

In one recent case, a 40-year-old chef living in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, who divorced his wife in late March 2006 at her request, said he was surprised to receive documents from the Tokyo Family Court by mail in early December.

One of the documents was a summons bearing the phrase, "Confirmation of no parental relationship." His name and the name of the petitioner he did not know were also written on it. It ordered him to show up to the court on Dec. 22.

The man consulted a lawyer, who told him that the petition was probably filed by an attorney for the child born to his former wife after their divorce.

The man took the Dec. 22 afternoon off work to attend a court hearing. During the 2 1/2-hour hearing, he was questioned about the details of his divorce, including the period when he lived apart from his former wife, and even about the last time they were together in their bedroom.

"I felt I was being treated like a criminal," the man recalled.

On that day, he was informed that his 37-year-old former wife had given birth to a child on Nov. 13 last year, the 231st day after their divorce. He apparently felt she was making fun of him because he was suddenly summoned to attend the court hearing without receiving any notice from her. He asked the court to allow him to provide testimony in a separate room because he felt that he would get into a fight with his former wife if he saw her again.

The man must undergo a DNA test at a medical institution before the next hearing in March if he wants to verify whether or not he is the biological father of the child.

"I have to take many days off because of the petition. I hope that the child can be registered in the family registry of my ex-wife's current husband, but I'd like the procedure to be simplified," he said.

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