When a couple divorces in Japan, not everything they own is automatically divided in half. At the same time, property does not simply belong to the husband because it is in his name, or to the wife because it is in hers. The basic idea is to divide the property that the couple built and maintained together during the marriage.
For example, a house bought after marriage may be registered only in the husband’s name. But if the wife supported the household through childcare and housework, the house is not necessarily treated as something the husband created entirely on his own. With savings, real estate, and other property, the name on the account or title is not the only thing that matters. What matters is how the property was built up during the marriage.
Property that one person already owned before marriage is treated differently. The same is generally true of property inherited from a parent or given personally to one spouse during the marriage. These are not things the couple built together, so they are considered separately from the property to be divided at divorce.
So how is the property the couple built together divided? Under current Japanese law, if there is no clear difference in how much each spouse contributed to acquiring or maintaining the property, their contributions are generally treated as equal. In simple terms, a roughly fifty-fifty division is often the starting point.
That does not mean everything the couple owns at the time of divorce is mechanically split in half. First, it is necessary to work out which property was built together during the marriage. Then the length of the marriage, the couple’s living situation, and other circumstances may also be considered when deciding how the property should be divided.
If the couple cannot reach an agreement on their own, they can ask the family court to help resolve the issue.
This is not simply a matter of personal opinion, such as “the husband earned the money, so it is all his” or “a stay-at-home wife did not earn an income, so she has no claim to the property.” Japanese law and court practice provide a basic framework for deciding what should be divided. First, property built together during the marriage is separated from property that already belonged to each person individually. Then the jointly built portion is divided. That is the basic idea behind property division in a Japanese divorce.
