Paternity Problems In Japan

Amanda Lockhart — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0500

There's a strange set of laws in Japan that are making things difficult for children who are born within 300 days of a divorce and their mothers.

I don't pretend to understand the intricacies of Japan's divorce laws or its "child registration" laws, but from what I can tell, if a child is born within 300 days after a divorce, the child is legally considered the offspring of the mother's former husband. As you might imagine, that could cause all sorts of problems.

A news report I read about this issue cited one example where a couple split up and the woman conceived a baby with her new boyfriend. But the ex-husband didn't make sure that the divorce papers went through in a timely manner. Because of the delay, the baby was born 155 days after the divorce was finalized, and now there's a dust-up over who the child's father is, according to the law.

Wow, this whole thing seems really silly. So many times, when I read about these antiquated, overly complicated family laws in other countries, I'm not sure what surprises me more — the fact that any of these laws are still on the books or the fact that anyone cooked them up in the first place. What possible purpose does a law like this serve?

One order of common sense for the folks in Japan, please!

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Paternity Problems In Japan