In Japan, wanting a divorce does not mean that a couple immediately has to go to court. If both spouses agree to divorce and have settled the necessary arrangements, they can submit a divorce notification to their local municipal office and end the marriage by mutual agreement. A divorce by mutual agreement can therefore be completed without any involvement from the family court.
The family court becomes relevant when the couple cannot settle matters between themselves. If one spouse refuses to divorce, the marriage cannot simply be ended by agreement. Even when both spouses accept the divorce itself, they may still disagree about matters involving their children, child support, or the division of property. In such cases, they can use family court mediation.
Mediation is not a trial in which a judge immediately decides who wins. Mediators hear from both sides and try to help them reach an agreement. If the couple succeeds in doing so, the divorce can be settled without going on to a lawsuit.
If mediation fails and one spouse still wants a divorce, the next step is usually a divorce lawsuit. At that stage, simply saying “I want a divorce” is not enough. The court must decide whether circumstances exist that qualify as legal grounds for divorce.
Adultery, for example, is specifically recognized under Japanese law as one possible ground for divorce. A long period of separation is not listed as a separate legal ground for divorce, but it can be one factor the court considers when deciding whether there are other serious circumstances that make it difficult for the marriage to continue.
Even when circumstances like these exist, however, a lawsuit is unnecessary if both spouses agree to divorce and have settled the relevant conditions. They can still divorce by mutual agreement.
This is why hearing that a divorce in Japan “ended up in a lawsuit” suggests more than simply that a marriage ended. It usually implies that the couple could not resolve matters privately and that mediation also failed. Family court mediation is still an attempt to reach an agreement; a divorce lawsuit comes after that, much closer to the final stage of the process.
