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Japan lists father of child as 'not yet determined' due to 300-day divorce rule
Mainichi Daily News
August 8, 2007
Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070808p2a00m0na030000c.html
The father of a child born to a remarried Japanese woman living in Britain has been listed as "not yet determined" on their Japanese family register even though the woman's British husband is known to be the father, it has emerged.
The listing is the result of the child being born within 300 days of the woman's divorce. Article 772 of Japan's Civil Code states that children born within 300 days of a divorce are presumed to be the offspring of the mother's former husband.
However, a Ministry of Justice notice stipulates that if the legal father of the child is different in two different countries, then the family register should state that the father is "not yet determined."
The woman moved to Britain with her Japanese husband in 2000, but in 2002 they started living separately under the same roof, and in December that year they got divorced. About the same time, the woman began living with a British man, whom she
married in April 2003. In August that year, 250 days after her divorce, she gave birth to a girl.
In Britain, the person listed on the child's birth certificate is recognized as the father. The woman registered the birth in Britain, and the British man was recognized as the father.
The woman later went to the Japanese consulate general in London to have her child listed in her Japanese family register, and tried to have the British man registered as the father, but she was told that her former husband would be listed as the
father because the child was born within 300 days of her divorce. The woman then contacted the Ministry of Justice and found out that there was a stipulation saying that when countries differed on recognition of the father then the listing on the
family register would be "father not yet determined."
To have the British man recognized as the father, the woman would have to take the issue to court.
A representative of the Justice Ministry's Civil Affairs Bureau said that that 300-day regulation was rational and there were no other options to take under current conditions. (Mainichi) Additional content from the Japanese version translated
by Japan CRN
Rules for determining paternity from other countries
United States (in priority order)
- The man who the mother is married to at the time of birth
- The former husband, in the case of being divorced within 300 days of birth.
- The man who the mother married after birth of the child.
- Within two years of birth, a man who acknowledges paternity or is added to the birth certificate as the father.
Germany (in priority order)
- The man who the mother is married to at the time of birth
- The man who accepts paternity.
- The man who is adjudged by a court to gave paternity.
France
- In the case of being married from 300 days before the pregnancy for a period of 180 days of pregnancy, the woman's male partner.
Britain
- The man who is entered as the father when the birth is registered.
Korea
- The former husband when the birth occurs within 300 days after a divorce.
Japan
- The former husband when the birth occurs within 300 days after a divorce.
* According to an investigation by Professor Tanamura
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