Form to Prevent Divorce By Mutual Consent

Note: You may need the Japanese fonts for Adobe Acrobat to view these. If you do not have them, try the PDF (with image) version if it is available.  In case you need it, here is a link to download Acrobat Reader 7.

Form Name in Japanese: 不受理申出（ふじゅりもうしで)

Form Name in Roumaji: fujyurimouside

Description

This form is used to prevent a local government office from accepting a Divorce By Mutual Consent form from your Japanese spouse.  This form only remains valid for 6 months.  You must submit it again continue this protection.  So you should probably submit it every 5 months in order to have some overlap to protect against delays.

Submitting this form will protect you against forged signatures, since the Divorce by Mutual Consent form cannot be submitted at all.  Submitting this form may also protect against you being considered to have abandoned your spouse after 3 years, thus giving them an automatic divorce.  (It is speculation that this would work, but at least it shows that you are maintaining contact.)

This is a generic form which can be used to prevent a local government office from accepting other forms as well.  So you must fill it in, in a certain way, for this purpose.  Be sure to follow the directions and example carefully if you do not read Japanese.

What Else To Include When Submitting the Form

• Copy of the koseki on which your marriage is registered.  If it is not registered yet, you had better get to Japan and get yourself on that koseki. I cant imagine how to do that without going to Japan.  (OK, perhaps you can arrange that at a local Japanese embassy or consulate.)

• Copy of your Foreigner Registration (if you are a Japan resident and have one)

• Copy of your passport (information page and picture page) for identification

• Stamped self-addresses return envelope.  See notes on stamped self-addressed envelopes.
• ???Other???

Fee

You must submit XXX (Unknown at this time) Japanese yen.  See notes on submitting fees for forms. 

This may be free since you are not getting printouts in return.

Where to Submit To

The government office where the koseki is registered.  i.e. in Tokyo, a ku-yakusyo.  In Gunma-ken, a si-yakusyo. etc.

Translation and Annotations

The image downloadable at the top of this page, "Annotated JPG Form," has annotations that correspond to the numbers and letters in the translations below.

Although the proper way to fill this form out for a divorce prevention is pretty clear, some sections are not quite clear yet for the prevention of adoption.  For example, there is no more husband and wife.  So do you check the "Other" category on line 2 and fill in "Father" and "Mother", then use the additional area on the second page for the child or children?

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1. Application Date.  YEAR 年　 MONTH月　 DAY日 (This form seems to want the year in Era [nengo] format.  But if you don't know that, just use the standard Western format year, e.g. 2003.)

2. Name of the city/ward/town/village you are submitting this to.  (Also, if you can write the kanji for SAMA 様, cross out the DONO 殿 and write SAMA  様.  But if you cant, don't worry.  It's just a minor formality.)

3. Type of applications (prevention of the following)

1. Divorce [協議離婚届　kyougi rikon todoke]
2. Marriage [ konnin todoke]
3. Adoption contract [ youshi engumi todoke]
4. Disowning of adopted child [youshi rien todoke]
5. Other [ sono ta]

4. (Pronunciation) / Full Name / Date of Birth (year, month, day)  [(yomikata) shimei seinengappi] (If you are a non-Japanese submitting this form, you should fill in your name as it appears on the identification you send along with this form.  Presumably a copy of your passport.)

1. Husband [ otto]
2. Husband (not) to be [ otto to naru hito]
3. Other [ sono ta]
4. Wife [ tsuma]
5. Wife (not) to be [ tsuma to naru hito]
6. Other [ sono ta]

4G. If you fill in kanji in the (4C) and (4D) area(s) then put the pronunciation of those kanji here in either hiragana or katakana.  (If you are filling in the name of a Japanese person, you should definitely use the kanji for their name) If you use a roman character name for the name of a non-Japanese, you could optionally put the Japanese pronunciation here. 

4H. Surname (last name)

4I. Given Name (first name)  (If this person has a middle name, you should put it here also, after the given name, with a space in between.)

4J.  Year( 年 nen)　 Month (月 tsuki)　 Day (日 hi)

5. Address (as registered on Residency Registration) [jyusho (jyuminntouroku wo site iru tokoro)]  (If putting the address in Japanese, you should probably fill in the pronunciation for the kanji in area 5A.  It is unclear what to do if you cannot find their jyuuminhyou (Residency Registration).   Can we get by with just t he Honseki?  Or could this be used as a good reason for getting someone's jyuuminhyou if you do not know it already?)

6. Official Address of Family Register [ hon seki]  (If putting the address in Japanese, you should probably fill in the pronunciation for the kanji in area 6A.)

6B. (Enter the address in this space.  Note that a honseki address is usually shorter than a normal address.  For example, the address area in (3) has a GOU （号）symbol at the end, whereas the honseki address does not.)

6C. Full Name of Head of Household. [筆頭者 hittousha no shimei] (This is the person who is listed at the far right of the koseki.  In an international marriage, it would always be the Japanese citizen.  In a household with one parent, it would be the parent.)

7.  Reason for application

1. I have no with to file for this type of application and I have never signed or sealed this type of application. [todokede no ishi ga naku, todokesho ni shmei ounin shita koto mo nai.]
2. I have signed or sealed an application of this type but subsequently changed my mind and no longer with to continue the application proceedings.  [todokesho ni shomei ouin sita ga, sono ato todokede no ishi wo nakushita.]

8. Term of application [ fujuri kikan]

1. Six months from the date of this application [ hon moushidesho uketuke no hi kara rokkagetsu kan]
2. From the date of this application until....year...month...day.  (Period must not exceed six months.)  [ hon moushidesho uketsuke no hi kara ...nen ...gatu ...hi made (rokkagetsu wo koenai you ni suru koto)]

9. Other [sono ta] (Its unclear what might go in here.  Anything else you need to say I guess.)

10. If the above indicated type of application is made during the effective period of this form, please do not accept it.  [Jouki todokede ga fujuri kanan chuu ni teishutsu sareta baai ni wa, kore wo juri shinai you onegai shimasu.]

11A. Signature and seal of the applicant.  [moushidebito syoumei ???in]

11B. Seal [in] (Imprint your seal over the 印 symbol on the far right.  If you have no hanko to use as a seal, then you may want to try just initialing it.  You may also want to see our section on Registering an Official Seal.)

12A. Contact Address (Preferred method of contact) [renraku saki (renraku houhou no kibou)]

12B. Telephone Number [denwa]

12C. Preference [kibou]  (presumably mail or telephone.  you might also try an email address, but you would not want to make that the only method of contact.)

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13.  Check one box.  Fill in the (   ) area if necessary.

14. In the boxes on the left side (labeled 2, 3 and 4) fill in the name, address, and location of Family Register (honseki).  If this form applies to three or more parties, you may also use the additional area to the right of this page.

15. If you do not fill in a effectiveness period for this application, or if you fill in an effectiveness period of longer than six months, then the effectiveness period shall be considered to be six months.  If you wish to extend the effectiveness period, then please submit a new application before this one expires.  If you do not submit a new application, this one will expire at the end of the effectiveness period.

16. This application can only be made by the applicant in person.  Alternate translation:  Only the person concerned may submit this application.  (Its not clear to me that this application must be made in person, as the original translator implies.  Its only clear to me that you cannot submit this for another person.  Comments?)

17.  Please ensure that you fill in a contact address, as the city/ward/town/village or the Ministry of Justice may wish to contact you with questions about this application.  If you have a preferred method of contact, please fill it in.

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