Nichi - Acknowledgement of Paternity

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See also our section on Birth Out Of Wedlock in Japan, Birth Out Of Wedlock Outside Japan and Japanese Citizenship and the Nationality Law.

Ninchi (acknowledgment) 認知 (にんち) is the official legal recognition by a man, of a child, as his own.  Before this is possible, there are two points to note:

• Children conceived during wedlock are considered the legitimate offspring of the husband. If your husband is not the father, you can go to court to have the father-child relationship annulled.  But this is unlikely to be healthy for your marriage. Likewise, a husband can contest his paternity in court.
• If a woman has a child within 300 days of getting divorced, s/he will still be considered the legitimate offspring of her ex-husband. This relationship can be annulled in court.  In fact, it MUST be annulled before another man is able to submit a ninchi-todoke.  If the wife is not willing to bring this lawsuit, the real father can also bring this lawsuit and via that require DNA testing for the child.

The term legitimize is used to describe the process in which a child born out of wedlock is legally recognized by its paternal father, be he Japanese or non-Japanese. However the term legitimize includes two slightly different meanings in Japan, one is that a man can declare paternity while a woman is pregnant, this is called taiji ninchi and the other is legitimization after birth. In total, there are four ways to acknowledge paternity of a child born out of wedlock.

1. voluntary acknowledgement before birth
2. voluntary acknowledgement after birth
3. court judgment
4. last will

In any case, the reporter has to notify the family register at his present residence or the family register of the recognized child.  In case of acknowledgment of the unborn baby, it is necessary to notify the mother’s home family register.

A child who is legitimized through taiji nichi and is born to a Japanese father and foreign mother who are not married cannot be registered in his father's family registry. Instead, that child will have a new family registry created specifically for him/her. Of course the fact that a Japanese father has legitimized his child through taiji ninchi will be noted (in the section called mibun-jiko-ran＝身分事項欄 ) on his family registry.

If the child has been legitimized through any of the other three ways, it is unclear what happens.  Presumably the child cannot get his or her own koseki since s/he does not receive Japanese citizenship.

Taiji Ninchi (胎児認知) - voluntary acknowledgement before birth

By Japanese law legitimizing a child in this manner must done while the child is in the womb and before it is born. With the permission of the mother, the paternal father may legitimize the child by filing the necessary paperwork at the mother's local kuyakusho or government office. In order to legitimize a child through taiji ninchi the following documents are required:
1) an official copy of the paternal father's family registry (戸籍謄本＝koseki tohon)
2) a copy showing proof of the mother's nationality and its Japanese translation
3) a copy showing proof that the mother is single and its Japanese translation
4) proof of the mother's permission (signature on application papers).

If possible, this is the best way, as it clears up the legal question of citizenship.  The child gains Japanese citizenship.  This can be done even if the father is married to someone else. The notation goes on the mother's koseki, and so anyone looking at the father's koseki would not be aware that he had fathered a child outside his marriage.

It is unclear what would happen if a man tried to acknowledge a child of a woman who was married to someone else.

After birth Ninchi - voluntary acknowledgement after birth

The main difference between before birth and after birth ninchi is that when done after birth, it does not automatically guarantee the child Japanese nationality.  (Note that  a recent Supreme Court case may have changed this.  See our Japanese Citizenship page and also our Notable Japanese Court Cases page for more information.)

If a non-Japanese marries the father at any time before your child's 20th birthday, it is possible to legitimize him/her by the junsei (準星) process.

Court Judgement

If father refuses to legitimize a child the case can be taken to court and the biological father can be forced to legitimize the child.  This is a judgment claim when the father loses a paternity suit and does not voluntarily not hand in the notification  It is unknown if a paternity suit can be brought BEFORE birth and thus require a taiji ninchi.

Last will

The executor of last will submits this, although the details are unclear.  <<Any help on ???WHY???>>

Related Terms

Ninchi Todoke 認知届け 【にんちとどけ】

alternate romanization: ninti todoke

This is just the name of the form used to apply for ninchi.

Ninchi Todoke Juri Shomeisho 認知届受理証明書【にんちとどけじゅうりしょうめいしょ】

alternate romanization: ninti todoke zyuri syoumeisyo

This is the Certificate of Acceptance of the Recognition, which is your personal evidence of having submitted the form.  It is probably most useful for the father, since the mother has evidence on her koseki.

How to Submit a Ninchi Todoke

Just go to the local government office with identification and ask for the ninchi-todoke form.  It is best to go to the office that corresponds to the honseki-chi of the mother's koseki, since you will need that information.  This is one time when you may have to use the procedures described on how to get a copy of a koseki, even if you only need the hoseki-chi.  Once you are there, the forms are easy.

One person reports that surprisingly, there were no obstacles to submitting this for his son. The mother didn't even know about it until he told her. (Although she would of course have found out if she had gotten a copy of her koseki.)  This father paid a lawyer find her koseki, so that I could get the honseki, and then went and did everything else himself at the ku-yakusyo. One form and it was over, and he does not even remember having to provide any proof that he was the father. This could open up some mothers to problems, blackmail in the worst of cases, since anyone could come in and claim to be the father.

A non-Japanese mother reports that she had to submit various proof from her home country that she was "eligible" to have a baby with him before the local government office would accept his ninchi for their daughter.  This included proof that she was not already married to someone else, who would then have been legally considered the father.  Things appear more difficult when the the mother is not Japanese, and the recognition goes on the man's koseki.

The easiest way is to collect a copy of your records by applying in person.  If you show up at the local government office, can prove your relationship and ties to the individual whose registry you are seeking, fill out the appropriate forms with an appropriate reason for wanting the registry, and pay the applicable fee, you should have no problem getting an official copy.  They will help you with the forms required.

Upon submitting the ninchi-todoke, be sure to ask for a "Certificate of Acceptance of the Recognition" (ninchitodoke juri shoumeisho).  You can only get this at the office where you submit the form.  You should be able to get this for any kind of ninchi that you process.

What if the father is married to someone else?

He can still do taiji nichi or regular ninchi..  No one may find out since the notation goes on the mother's koseki (for a Japanese) and in this case, your child would get its own koseki.   Inheritance for his existing children does change though, but his out of wedlock child only gets half as much as the in wedlock children.

Is there any way to prevent the father from submitting a ninchi todoke?

If you wanted to prevent a father from doing ninchi, I would go to the kuyakusyo and ask if a "hujuri todoke" could be used for that. You can get a copy of the form to do this and further information on how to do this on our Japanese Family Law Related Forms section.) Although you would have to submit it every 6 months, it might work. After the fact, my guess is that you could take him to court and sue him for "non-parental something or other" to get him off. (I know for a fact that there *is* such as type of lawsuit.) There would likely be a burden of proof on you, and you would likely have to prove that someone else was the father. Otherwise, according the the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child does have the right to know both his/her parents. So from this perspective, it is the right thing, IMHO, in any case. The wrong thing, is the "right to abduct" that Japanese law gives parents.

Ninchi Related Laws and Regulations

See our Japanese Family Law section.

Because of the wealth of

Resources

What no-one ever told you about a koseki.  If you read Japanese, a very good reference on the koseki. (cached copy)