This site tracks developments in international family law from Richard Crouch and John Crouch of Crouch & Crouch in Arlington, Virginia. Our international practice has grown naturally from our location in our native Arlington, where our clients include many military, diplomatic and immigrant families, international organization employees, IT professionals, etc. This blog's purpose is to comment on the ongoing development of the law, and help other lawyers, journalists and the public understand individual cases. These postings do not provide a comprehensive description of the law. In fact, they will surely contain statements that were true at the time but have become less valid as the law continues to develop.
I don't know who the author is, nor the merits of his case, but this transcription of his meeting provides an interesting window into official Japanese attitudes about child custody, how different Japan is but also how much change is in the air.
Japan's courts basically never transfer child custody, leaving the children with whoever takes them when the parents first separate, and not even ordering visitation with the other parent. But that seems to be changing in a few cases. The unusual terminology in this article -- "Forced Custody Transfer" -- shows that most of the paper's readers in Japan are unfamiliar with the concept.
Ministers are drawing up new rules to put courts under a legal duty to ensure divorced parents are guaranteed access to their children.
Parents who refuse to accept the orders will be in contempt of court and risk serious penalties or even jail. ... children’s minister Tim Loughton said: ‘Our vision is to establish that, under normal circumstances, a child will have a relationship with both his or her parents, regardless of their relationship with each other.
... [Another] bill requires courts and councils which are enforcing contact orders for children ‘to operate under the presumption that the rights of a child include growing up knowing and having access to and contact with both parents involved’.
