Legal prosecutions AFTER divorce

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I have divorced my wife by agreement (kyogi rikon) in which I granted her the custody of our kid against the verbal promise she would let me see him, once we got divorced she cut contact, and I brought the case to the family court in a hope to get some visitation rights, and they hold what they call a conciliation meeting, in the meeting they request me to pay her a lump sum, for her expenses for a few months while she was living with her mother before the divorce got registered, and pay 10000yen/month for my kid, I was paying 50000yen/month before but now I am only willing to pay the minimum 30000yen/month because I consider that my wife tricked me and spend a lot of money just before leaving me.
Also her parents who are the garantors for my appartment want to break the deal, so if I understood well I would have to find another Japanese to be my garantor since from what I understand a foreigner by himself cannot rent an appartment.
To me it seems the people at the family court were trying to trick me in giving her what ever she wanted in a vague promise of seeing my kid eventually. I was upset and said I was not willing to pay, to which they told me the case would be brought to the district court.

Since the divorce is already proceeded can they really do this ?
And I guess the only chance I have to see my kid again is to rely on the good-will of my wife ? 		Posted By:
lightman
11/16/2004
Order:
Andrew (51 posts)
11/17/2004 10:48:27 AM 		re: Legal prosecutions AFTER di...   profile
And I guess the only chance I have to see my kid again is to rely on the good-will of my wife ?

Hi lightman, to answer your last question first, I can categorically say "yes" to that. I have never known of any non-custodial parent in Japan have their visitation rights enforced by any authority.

As for her parents being guarantors for your apartment.....it seems to me like they want you out of the equation altogether. According to this website:-

http://www.pref.nara.jp/silk/icd/h_english/2_04_e.html#03

......a guarantor must "hold equal responsiblility as the tenant
In the event of a problem, or should something occur, he/she too takes responsibility and deal with the problem."

Do you know anyone else willing to do this? If you have enough money, you could maybe give a deposit to a Japanese friend to ask them to help you....then if anything did go wrong, they could use the money you deposited to them (it's just some insurance for them). Of course, you need to trust this person!!

To me it seems the people at the family court were trying to trick me in giving her what ever she wanted in a vague promise of seeing my kid eventually.

Have you got legal advice yet from a lawyer? It needn't cost too much to know your legal rights first of all. For example, in Tokyo, I went to the Legal Counselling Center for foreigners. Let the family court know that you have seeked legal advice too. Family Courts seek the path of least resistance - if they see you haven't prepared your own case, they will likely take only on board your wife's demands. You can get some (relatively cheap) advice here:-

http://www.nichibenren.or.jp/en/legal/councel.html

I used them a few years ago......I stated my case to a lawyer with a translator in the room. After that session, I got the translator's name and number and I asked her to translate my side of things in a written letter. This turned out to be 4 pages long! I had this translated document stamped by a law firm (to give it credence). I presented this document to the mediators. Maybe you could do something similar in preparation for the next mediation session (I assume there will be one?).

Anyway......good luck!

Edited 17/11/2004 10:52:06


FRIJ recommends you also visit crn japan, who are fighting international abduction to Japan and working to assure children in Japan of meaningful contact with both parents regardless of marital status