Civil Enforcement Act

• A claim for money is enforced against the debtor's real property by compulsory auction (強制競売) or forced administration of its income (強制管理), against vessels of 20 gross tons or more by auction, against movables by a court enforcement officer seizing them, and against claims such as wages, and other property rights, by the enforcement court's order of seizure (差押命令). An obligation to hand over land or a building is enforced by the court enforcement officer removing the debtor from possession and putting the creditor in possession, and one to hand over a movable by the officer taking it from the debtor and giving it to the creditor — or, where a third party holds the thing and owes it to the debtor, by the court seizing the debtor's claim against the third party and letting the creditor exercise it; an obligation to do something another person could do, or not to do something, by having a third party do it, or removing what the debtor did or taking measures for the future, at the debtor's cost (代替執行, enforcement through substituted performance); and an obligation to act or not to act that cannot be enforced that way, by ordering the debtor to pay the creditor a sum for each period of delay, or if it does not perform within a set time (間接強制, indirect judicial enforcement) — which the creditor can also ask for in place of the first two. A judgment or other decision ordering the debtor to make a declaration of intention counts as that declaration once final, as does a settlement, acknowledgment, conciliation or labor tribunal decision to that effect once made — or, where the declaration is conditional, when the attestation of enforceability is granted.(Art. 43(1), Art. 112(1), Art. 122(1), Art. 143(1), Art. 145(1), Art. 151(1), Art. 167(1), Art. 168(1), Art. 169(1), Art. 170(1), Art. 171(1), Art. 172(1), Art. 173(1), Art. 177(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Three-quarters of each payment of wages, salary, retirement pension, bonus or similar pay, and of continuing payments a debtor receives for its living from anyone other than the State or a local government, cannot be seized — but where three-quarters would be more than an amount a Cabinet Order sets with a standard household's necessary living costs in mind, only that amount is protected; three-quarters of a retirement allowance cannot be seized. Where the creditor is claiming maintenance under the Civil Code (民法) — spouses' duty of mutual support, sharing the costs of married life, the duties of a child's custody, or support between relatives — the protected share is one-half instead. On a petition, the enforcement court can, in light of the debtor's and the creditor's living conditions and other circumstances, cancel all or part of an order of seizure or allow seizure of a protected part, and change that again if circumstances change; the court clerk must tell the debtor, when serving the order, that it can petition for its cancellation.(Art. 152(1), Art. 152(2), Art. 152(3), Art. 151-2(1), Art. 153(1), Art. 153(2), Art. 145(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The enforcement court issues an order of seizure without hearing the debtor or the person who owes the seized claim to the debtor (第三債務者, the third party obligor) — the one who pays its wages, for instance — though it may hear the debtor first where the creditor enforces the general statutory lien for child-care costs to claim child support under Article 766-3 of the Civil Code (民法); once the order is served on the third party obligor, the debtor may not collect or otherwise dispose of the claim, and the third party obligor may not pay the debtor. A seizure of wages or other continuing payments also covers payments falling due after it, up to the creditor's claim and enforcement costs, and the creditor can collect a seized money claim directly from the third party obligor, up to that amount, once one week has passed since the order was served on the debtor. Where the seized claim is wages, a retirement allowance or other pay of a kind Article 152 lists, and the creditor's claim does not include maintenance, that wait is four weeks, a transfer order (転付命令) handing the claim to the creditor at face value in place of payment takes effect only once it is final and those four weeks have passed, and no distribution is made before then.(Art. 144(2), Art. 145(1), Art. 145(2), Art. 193(3), Art. 145(5), Art. 151(1), Art. 155(1), Art. 155(2), Art. 159(1), Art. 159(5), Art. 159(6), Art. 160(1), Art. 166(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A creditor holding an authenticated copy of an enforceable title of obligation for money (執行力のある債務名義の正本), or one who shows that it holds a general statutory lien (一般の先取特権) over the debtor's property, can have the enforcement court order an asset disclosure procedure (財産開示手続) against the debtor if, in a distribution in a judicial enforcement or enforcement of a security interest that ended less than six months before the petition, it was not paid in full, or if it makes a prima facie showing that enforcement against the debtor's known property would not pay it in full. The court may not order one where enforcement on the creditor's title cannot begin, nor where the debtor stated its property at an asset disclosure date (財産開示期日) in the three years before the petition, unless it then left property out, has since acquired new property, or its employment has since ended.(Art. 197(1), Art. 197(2), Art. 197(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• In the procedures for acquiring information from a third party (第三者からの情報取得手続), a creditor holding an enforceable title for money, or one who shows that it holds a general statutory lien over the debtor's property, who was not paid in full in a distribution that ended less than six months before the petition, or who makes a prima facie showing that enforcement against the debtor's known property would not pay it in full, can have the enforcement court order banks and the other deposit-taking institutions the Act lists, as the creditor chooses, to give the information needed to seize the debtor's deposits, and book-entry transfer institutions the information needed to enforce against book-entry bonds and shares in the debtor's accounts — unless, for a holder of a title, enforcement on it cannot begin. The information is given to the court in writing; the court sends a copy to the creditor and tells the debtor that information about its property has been given.(Art. 204(1), Art. 207(1), Art. 207(2), Art. 197(1), Art. 197(2), Art. 208(1), Art. 208(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The court must likewise order a registry office a Ministry of Justice Order designates to give information about land and buildings registered in the debtor's name; and, for a creditor owed maintenance or damages for death or bodily injury, or one holding the general statutory lien for child-care costs (子の監護の費用) under the Civil Code (民法), a municipality, from what it knows through residence tax, or the Japan Pension Service or one of the public-employee and private-school mutual aid bodies the Act lists, from what they know through the debtor's Employees' Pension Insurance, to give the information needed to seize the debtor's wages. Either can be asked for only within three years after an asset disclosure date was held, and not at all where the debtor was there excused from stating the rest of its property. These orders are served on the debtor and take effect only once final.(Art. 205(1), Art. 205(2), Art. 205(3), Art. 205(5), Art. 206(1), Art. 206(2), Art. 206(3), Civil Code Art. 306(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 21 May 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Code of Civil Procedure, etc.

  民事訴訟法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 48 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 21 May 2026

  The text on this site

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Civil Procedures, etc.

  民事関係手続等における情報通信技術の活用等の推進を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 53 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc.

  民法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 33 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Civil Procedures, etc.

  民事関係手続等における情報通信技術の活用等の推進を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 53 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 6 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement, etc. of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act on Security Assignment Contracts and Retention of Title Contracts

  譲渡担保契約及び所有権留保契約に関する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律

  Act No. 57 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 24 May 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc.

  民法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 33 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Arbitration Act

  仲裁法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 15 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Act for Implementation of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation

  調停による国際的な和解合意に関する国際連合条約の実施に関する法律

  Act No. 16 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Promotion of Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution

  裁判外紛争解決手続の利用の促進に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 17 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 23 amendments already in force

• A creditor owed maintenance — spouses' mutual support, the costs of married life, the duties of a child's custody, or support between relatives — in instalments with fixed due dates, any of which is in arrears, can start enforcement against the debtor's claims for the instalments not yet due as well, but may then seize only wages and other continuing pay falling due after each instalment's due date. For such a creditor, the four-week wait before collecting seized wages does not apply.(Art. 151-2(1), Art. 151-2(2), Art. 155(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Maintenance can also be enforced by indirect judicial enforcement, the court ordering the debtor to pay the creditor a sum to secure payment — even for instalments falling due within the next six months once part is in arrears — but not where the debtor cannot pay for lack of means, or paying would put its living in severe hardship. The court sets the sum with particular regard to the creditor's disadvantage from non-payment, the debtor's means and how it has paid before, and if circumstances change can, on the debtor's petition, cancel the order back to when it petitioned.(Art. 167-15(1), Art. 167-15(2), Art. 167-15(3), Art. 167-16(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A creditor holding an enforceable title for maintenance, or one holding the general statutory lien for child-care costs under the Civil Code (民法), who petitions for asset disclosure or for wage information is taken to have petitioned at the same time to seize the wage and bonus claims disclosed or reported, unless it says otherwise when petitioning. Where it petitioned for asset disclosure and the debtor, summoned, does not disclose, the court must order the municipality where the debtor lives to give information about its wages, unless the creditor says otherwise. These rules apply to cases filed on or after the day Act No. 33 of 2024 came into force; earlier cases keep the earlier rules.(Art. 167-17(1), Art. 167-17(2), Art. 193(2), Civil Code Art. 306(1)(iii), Suppl. Prov. Art. 7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Some movables cannot be seized: the clothing, bedding, furniture, kitchen utensils, tatami and fittings the debtor's household cannot do without; a month's food and fuel; cash up to an amount a Cabinet Order sets with two months' necessary living costs of a standard household in mind; the tools and other things, other than goods for sale, that someone working mainly by their own labor cannot do without for that work, and, for a farmer or fisher working mainly by their own labor, the tools, animals, feed, fertilizer, seed and gear they cannot do without; seals and objects of worship the debtor cannot do without, the family records, diaries and business books the debtor needs, decorations the debtor or a relative received, unpublished inventions and writings, school materials, artificial limbs and the safety equipment a building must have by law. On a petition, the enforcement court can, considering the debtor's and the creditor's living conditions and other circumstances, release seized movables or allow these to be seized.(Art. 131(1), Art. 132(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A creditor whose title comes from a small claims action (少額訴訟) — a final or provisionally enforceable judgment, a settlement or acknowledgment, a decision in place of a settlement, or a clerk's decision on costs — can also have a money claim seized by a disposition of the court clerk of the summary court (簡易裁判所) that dealt with it (少額訴訟債権執行, enforcement against a claim arising from a small claims action), as an alternative to an order of seizure. The limits on seizing wages and other protected pay apply to it too, and that summary court, as the enforcement court, can widen or narrow them in the same way.(Art. 167-2(1), Art. 167-2(2), Art. 167-2(3), Art. 167-3(1), Art. 167-8(1), Art. 167-14(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a building the debtor lives in is put under forced administration, or under the corresponding enforcement of a security interest, and the debtor cannot find anywhere else to live, the enforcement court can, on a petition, let the debtor's household go on living there, as far as needed and for a set period. Where the administration would leave the debtor in extreme poverty, it can order the administrator to give the debtor the money or income needed.(Art. 97(1), Art. 98(1), Art. 188(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Seizure may go no further than the creditor needs: once a seized claim is worth more than the creditor's claim and enforcement costs, the court may not seize other claims; movables may not be seized beyond what pays the claim and costs, and any excess that comes to light is released. A court enforcement officer may not seize movables at all where their sale is not expected to bring in more than the procedure's costs, and must release them where it is not expected to cover those costs and the claims ranking ahead of the creditor's.(Art. 146(2), Art. 128(1), Art. 128(2), Art. 129(1), Art. 129(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• Civil enforcement is carried out, on a petition, by a court — the enforcement court (執行裁判所) — or by a court enforcement officer, and the enforcement court can decide without oral argument. A court enforcement officer who meets resistance may use force or ask the police for help, except when showing the property to prospective buyers (内覧, a viewing); entering a home where neither the occupant, its agent nor a household member or employee of sound judgment is met, or using force or police help, requires a witness such as a municipal official or police officer, and entering a home on a Sunday or other public holiday or between 7 in the evening and 7 the next morning requires the enforcement court's permission. To seize movables, the officer may enter and search the debtor's home and other places it occupies, and open locked doors and safes.(Art. 2(1), Art. 3(1), Art. 4(1), Art. 6(1), Art. 64-2(5), Art. 7(1), Art. 8(1), Art. 123(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Unless this Act provides otherwise, Parts 1 to 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure (民事訴訟法) apply to civil enforcement procedures where not contrary to their nature, except the provisions Article 20 lists, and with the words Appended Table 1 (別表第一) replaces — which read the Code's provisions on electronic records, online methods and service by publication (公示送達) in their paper form; the Rules of the Supreme Court (最高裁判所規則) provide what the Act leaves, and the courts' jurisdiction under this Act is exclusive. A filing that must otherwise be made on paper can be made online to the courts the Supreme Court designates.This is the rule until the change takes effect, 13 June 2028 at the latest.(Art. 20(1), Appended Table 1, Art. 21(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 19-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• From a day a Cabinet Order sets, no later than 13 June 2028, Parts 1 to 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure (民事訴訟法) apply to civil enforcement procedures, unless this Act provides otherwise and where not contrary to their nature, with none of the Code's provisions left out and one of its wordings adjusted; the Rules of the Supreme Court (最高裁判所規則) provide what the Act leaves, and the courts' jurisdiction under this Act is exclusive. A filing with a court that must otherwise be made on paper can be made by recording it in the court's files through the online system the Rules of the Supreme Court set, and a representative acting under a mandate — other than one acting only with the court's permission — and the officials acting for the State or a local government in the case must file that way, except where they make orally a filing that may be made orally.This is the rule from a day still to be set, 13 June 2028 at the latest.(Art. 20(1), Art. 21(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 19-2(1), Art. 19-3(1), Art. 19-3(1)(i), Art. 19-3(1)(ii), Art. 19-3(1)(iii), Suppl. Prov.(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A decision in a civil enforcement procedure can be appealed (執行抗告, an appeal against an enforcement decision) only where the Act provides for it: the petition of appeal goes to the court that made the decision within one week of being notified of it, with the reasons, if not stated in it, following within one week, or the appeal is dismissed. Measures of the enforcement court that cannot be appealed, and a court enforcement officer's measures or delay, can be challenged by an objection (執行異議) to the enforcement court.(Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 10(3), Art. 10(5), Art. 11(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A debtor who disputes the existence or content of the claim, or how a title other than a court decision — a notarial instrument, for one — came into being, can sue to have enforcement on the title disallowed (請求異議の訴え, an action to dispute a claim), though not on a judgment, demand for payment or similar order with a declaration of provisional enforcement that is not yet final, and against a final judgment only on grounds that arose after oral argument closed; one who disputes that a fact the creditor had to prove has occurred, or that enforcement can be carried out for or against someone the title does not name, can bring an action opposing the granting of the attestation of enforceability (執行文付与に対する異議の訴え). A third party who owns the property enforced against, or has another right that prevents its transfer or delivery, can sue the creditor to disallow the enforcement (第三者異議の訴え, a third-party action opposing enforcement). Where such a suit is brought and the grounds appear legally well founded and are shown prima facie, the court hearing it can, on a petition, stay enforcement, with or without security, until it gives judgment; in an urgent case the enforcement court can order the same even before the suit is brought, for a set period within which the stay ordered by the court hearing the suit must be produced.(Art. 35(1), Art. 35(2), Art. 34(1), Art. 38(1), Art. 36(1), Art. 36(3), Art. 36(4), Art. 38(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Enforcement must be stopped when the court or officer is shown, among the items the Act lists, a decision cancelling the title or disallowing enforcement, proof that security to avoid enforcement has been provided, a decision ordering enforcement stayed, a court settlement in which the creditor agreed not to enforce or to withdraw, or the creditor's statement, made after the title arose, that it has been paid or has agreed to give the debtor more time; all of these but a temporary stay and the creditor's statement also require measures already taken to be cancelled. A stay on the creditor's statement that it was paid lasts no more than four weeks, and one on its agreement to give more time can be had no more than twice and for six months in all.(Art. 39(1), Art. 39(2), Art. 39(3), Art. 40(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The necessary costs of judicial enforcement (執行費用) are borne by the debtor and, in enforcement of a claim for money, are collected in the same procedure without a separate title. A person petitioning the enforcement court must pay in advance the amount the court clerk sets for the procedure's expenses, and if it does not, the enforcement court can dismiss the petition or cancel the procedure.(Art. 42(1), Art. 42(2), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For real property, the enforcement court opens a compulsory auction by an order declaring the property seized, and the court clerk has the seizure registered; the seizure does not stop the debtor using the property in the ordinary way. A court enforcement officer surveys the property — entering it, opening locked doors if need be, and questioning the debtor and occupiers — a valuer values it, and the court sets a standard sales price (売却基準価額); a bid must be at least that price less two-tenths (買受可能価額, the minimum purchase price). The buyer becomes the owner on paying the price and can, within six months — nine for a building occupied at the purchase by a user entitled under Article 395(1) of the Civil Code (民法) — have the court order the debtor, or an occupier without a right good against the buyer, to hand the property over — an occupier other than the debtor being heard first, unless the record plainly shows it has no such right or it has already been heard.(Art. 45(1), Art. 46(2), Art. 48(1), Art. 57(1), Art. 57(2), Art. 57(3), Art. 58(1), Art. 60(1), Art. 60(3), Art. 79(1), Art. 83(1), Art. 83(2), Art. 83(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• While real property is being auctioned, where the debtor or an occupier does something that lowers or may lower its value, the enforcement court can, on a seizing creditor's petition and until the buyer pays, order it to stop or to do something, and — where the debtor occupies the property, or the occupier's right cannot be asserted against the seizing creditor or others the Act names — order it to give up possession to a court enforcement officer, unless the loss of value is slight. The sale extinguishes the statutory liens, the pledges without a right of use and the mortgages on the property, and any right in it acquired that cannot be asserted against their holders or against the seizing creditor loses its effect. The buyer takes the property subject to any right of retention (留置権), and any pledge without a no-use stipulation, that the sale does not extinguish, and must pay the debts they secure.(Art. 55(1), Art. 55(2), Art. 59(1), Art. 59(2), Art. 59(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Delivery or eviction of real property, or of a vessel someone lives in, is enforced by the court enforcement officer removing the debtor from possession and putting the creditor in possession, only with the creditor or its agent present; the officer may enter and open locked doors, and must remove movables that are not part of what is handed over and give them to the debtor, its agent, or a household member or employee of sound judgment, selling or storing them if that cannot be done. Beforehand, where the debtor occupies the property, the officer may make a demand for eviction (明渡しの催告) setting a time limit, as a rule one month later, and must then post it at the property; the debtor must not then transfer possession to anyone but the creditor. Until the time limit, enforcement can be carried out against anyone who has since taken possession — who is presumed to have known of the demand — unless that person shows, by suing or, once enforcement is carried out against it, by objecting, that it did not know of the demand and did not take over the debtor's possession, or, by objecting, that it holds possession under a right good against the creditor.(Art. 168(1), Art. 168(3), Art. 168(4), Art. 168(5), Art. 168(6), Art. 168-2(1), Art. 168-2(2), Art. 168-2(3), Art. 168-2(5), Art. 168-2(6), Art. 168-2(7), Art. 168-2(8), Art. 168-2(9)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The handover of a child (子の引渡し) is enforced either by indirect judicial enforcement or by the enforcement court having a court enforcement officer carry it out; the second can be asked for only once two weeks have passed after an indirect enforcement order became final (or the period it set has passed, if later), where indirect enforcement is not expected to end the debtor's custody, or where it is needed at once to protect the child from imminent danger, and the court must hear the debtor before ordering it, unless the child is in imminent danger or a hearing would defeat the enforcement. The officer may persuade the debtor, enter and search its home and bring the creditor in, but only with the creditor — or an agent the court approves — present, and may not use force against the child, or against anyone else where that could harm the child. The court and the officer must take as much care as they can, in light of the child's age and development, that the enforcement does not harm the child's mind and body.(Art. 174(1), Art. 174(2), Art. 174(3), Art. 175(1), Art. 175(5), Art. 175(6), Art. 175(8), Art. 176(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• At the asset disclosure date, which is not public, the debtor — or its legal representative, or for a corporation its representative — must appear, is put on oath, and must state the debtor's property, apart from the household necessities and month's food and fuel that cannot be seized, answering the court's questions and, with the court's permission, the creditor's; having disclosed part, it can be excused by the court from stating the rest where the creditor agrees or what was disclosed plainly allows the claim to be paid in full. Failing to appear or refusing the oath without good reason, or, after swearing, failing to state what must be stated or stating it falsely, is punishable by imprisonment (拘禁刑) for up to six months or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. Only the creditor, other creditors holding an enforceable title for money or proving a general statutory lien (for wage information, only those owed maintenance or damages for death or bodily injury, or holding the lien for child-care costs), the debtor or the person who made the disclosure and, for third-party information, its provider may see the parts of the record holding what an asset disclosure or a procedure for acquiring information from a third party revealed, and those creditors may use it only to enforce their claim against that debtor — using or passing it on for anything else brings a non-penal fine (過料) of up to 300,000 yen, imposed by the enforcement court.(Art. 198(2), Art. 199(1), Art. 199(3), Art. 199(4), Art. 199(6), Art. 199(7), Code of Civil Procedure Art. 201(1), Art. 200(1), Art. 213(1)(v), Art. 213(1)(vi), Art. 201(1), Art. 209(1), Art. 209(2), Art. 202(1), Art. 202(2), Art. 210(1), Art. 210(2), Art. 214(1), Art. 214(2), Art. 215(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Damaging a public notice that a court enforcement officer has posted for a protective order over real property or for a demand for eviction is punishable by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen. Failing without good reason to appear or to answer, or answering falsely, at a hearing on the standard sales price; refusing without good reason to answer, or answering falsely, a court enforcement officer's questions or demands for documents while surveying seized property or identifying occupiers for an eviction; or making a false declaration about organized crime membership when bidding, is punishable by imprisonment for up to six months or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. An occupier whose right cannot be asserted against the creditors and who without good reason refuses or obstructs entry to the property for a viewing (内覧) by prospective buyers faces a fine of up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 212(1), Art. 213(1)(i), Art. 213(1)(ii), Art. 213(1)(iii), Art. 213(1)(iv), Art. 213(2), Art. 64-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)