Civil Enforcement Act

The district court having jurisdiction in the locality of the general venue of the obligor has jurisdiction over enforcement against a claim as the enforcement court, and if there is no general venue, the district court having jurisdiction in the locality of the claim to be seized has jurisdiction over enforcement as the enforcement court.

A claim to be seized is deemed to exist within the locality of the general venue of the obligor of that claim (referred to as the "third party obligor" below); provided, however, that a claim for delivery of a vessel or movables and a claim secured by a security interest in property is deemed to exist within the locality of the property.

If another order of seizure has been issued for a claim subject to a seizure (limited to a claim that has been seized based on an order of seizure; the same applies in this Division), if the enforcement court that has issued that order of seizure is different from the earlier enforcement court, either enforcement court may transfer its case to the other enforcement court.

No appeal may be entered against an order under the preceding paragraph.

An enforcement court must, in an order of seizure, prohibit the obligor from collecting or otherwise disposing the claim and prohibit the third party obligor from providing performance to the obligor.

An order of seizure is issued without interrogating the obligor and the third party obligor.

An order of seizure must be served upon the obligor and the third party obligor.

In serving an order of seizure, a court clerk must inform the obligor that a petition for voiding the order of seizure under Article 153, paragraph (1) or (2) can be filed and other matters provided by the Rules of the Supreme Court, pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Supreme Court.

A seizure becomes effective when an order of seizure is served upon the third party obligor.

An appeal may be filed against a judicial decision on a petition for an order of seizure.

If an enforcement court is unable to service an order of seizure to an obligor, the enforcement court may specify a reasonable period and order the attaching obligee to make a proposal for an address, residence, and a place where a document on the order of seizure should be served (petition for service by publication in the cases stated in the items of Article 110, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, which apply mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 20; the same applies in the following paragraph).

If an enforcement court orders the proposal of the preceding paragraph, the enforcement court may set aside the order of seizure if the attaching obligee does not make the proposal of the paragraph.

An enforcement court may issue an order of seizure for the entirety of a claim to be seized.

When the price of the seized claim exceeds the amount of the claim and enforcement costs of the attaching obligee, an enforcement court must not seize any other claims.

When a petition has been filed by the attaching obligee, a court clerk must, upon servicing an order of seizure, make a demand to the third party obligor to state the presence or absence of any claim subject to a seizure and any other matters specified by the Rules of the Supreme Court within two weeks from the day of service of the order of seizure.

A third party obligor, when the obligor has failed to make a statement or has made a false statement intentionally or negligently in response to a demand under the preceding paragraph, is liable to compensate for any damages that occur as a result

When a deed exists for a claim subject to a seizure, the obligor must deliver that deed to the attaching obligee.

The attaching obligee may receive delivery of the deed referred to in the preceding paragraph by the method of judicial enforcement of delivery of movables provided in Article 169, based on an order of seizure.

If part of a claim has been seized or a provisional seizure has been effected against it, and an order of seizure is issued beyond the remaining portion of the claim, the effects of each seizure or provisional seizure extend to the entirety of the claim. The same applies to the effects of a seizure if an order of seizure has been issued for part of a claim after the entirety of the claim has been seized or a provisional seizure has been effected against it.

When an order of seizure against a claim secured by a registered statutory lien, pledge or mortgage has become effective, a court clerk must, upon petition, commission registration that that claim has been seized.

The effects of a seizure against a claim for a compensation or any other continuous performance extend to the performance to be received after the seizure, not exceeding the amount of the claim and enforcement costs of the attaching obligee.

If the obligor has a claim for periodic payments with provisions on fixed due dates related to any of the following duties, if any part of the claim is in default, enforcement against a claim may be commenced even for the portion of that claim for periodic payments for which the fixed due date has yet to arrive, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 30, paragraph (1):

the duty of cooperation and mutual assistance between a husband and wife under Article 752 of the Civil Code;

duty of sharing the expenses arising from marriage under Article 760 of the Civil Code;

the obligation concerning the custody of a child under the provisions of Article 766 and Article 766-3 of the Civil Code (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 749, Article 771, and Article 788 of that Code); or

the duty to support under Article 877 through Article 880 of the Civil Code.

In enforcement against a claim that has been commenced pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, related to compensation or any other continuous performance it is possible to seize only the claim that becomes due after the arrival of the fixed due date of each claim for the periodic payments.

In the case of either of the following claims, the portion equivalent to three-quarters of the performance to be received when the claim is due (or, if the amount exceeds the amount specified by a Cabinet Order by taking into account an average household's necessary living expenses, the portion equivalent to the amount specified by a Cabinet Order) must not be seized:

a claim related to continuous performance that the obligor receives from a person other than the State or a local government for maintaining the obligor's daily living; or

a claim related to a compensation, wage, salary, retirement pension, bonus or any remuneration similar in nature.

In the case of a claim related to a retirement allowance or any remuneration similar in nature, the portion equivalent to three-quarters of its performance must not be seized.

To apply the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs in the case of enforcing a monetary claim (meaning a claim for payment of money; the same applies below) related to any of the duties stated in the items of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, the term "three-quarters" in the preceding two paragraphs is deemed to be replaced with "a half."

An enforcement court may, upon petition, order voiding all or part of an order of seizure or issue an order of seizure for the portion of a claim of which seizure is prohibited pursuant to the provisions of the preceding Article, taking into consideration the living conditions of the obligor and the obligee and any other circumstances.

When there has been a change in circumstances, an enforcement court may, upon petition, seize a claim for which an order of seizure had been voided pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph or void all or part of an order of seizure under that paragraph.

When the petition referred to in either of the preceding two paragraphs has been filed, an enforcement court may, until a judicial decision on the petition becomes effective, issue an order against the third party obligor prohibiting payment or any other performance, while requiring or not requiring provision of security.

An appeal may be filed against an order to deny a petition for voiding an order of seizure under paragraph (1) or paragraph (2).

No appeal may be entered against an order under paragraph (3).

An obligee having an authenticated copy of an enforceable title of obligation and an obligee who has proved that they have a statutory lien based on a document or electronic or magnetic record may make a distribution demand.

When the distribution demand referred to in the preceding paragraph has been made, an electronic or magnetic record (limited to a record that is recorded in a file) prepared by the recording court clerk recording a statement to that effect must be served upon the third party obligor.

An appeal may be filed against a judicial decision to deny a distribution demand.

An obligee who has a monetary claim seized may collect the claim when one week has passed from the day on which an order of seizure is served upon the obligor; provided, however, that they may not receive payment beyond the amount of the claim and enforcement costs of the attaching obligee.

Regarding the application of the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if a seized monetary claim is a claim stated in the items in Article 152, paragraph (1) or a claim under paragraph (2) of the Article (except if a monetary claim related to the obligation stated in the items of Article 151-2, paragraph (1) is included in a claim of the attaching obligee), "one week" in that paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "four weeks".

When an attaching obligee has received payment from a third party obligor, the obligee's claim and enforcement costs are deemed to have been performed to the extent of the amount that has been received.

An attaching obligee must, when the obligee has received the payment referred to in the preceding paragraph, immediately notify the enforcement court to that effect.

If two years have passed without receiving the payment of paragraph (3) from the date when it is permitted to collect a monetary claim pursuant to paragraph (1) (or the date when the notification is given last time if the notification is given under the preceding paragraph or this paragraph; the same applies in the following paragraph), an attaching obligee must notify the enforcement court that the obligee has not received the payment of that paragraph.

If an attaching obligee does not give notification under the preceding two paragraphs within four weeks after two years has passed from the date when it is permitted to collect a monetary claim pursuant to paragraph (1), the enforcement court may set aside the order of seizure.

If an attaching obligee gives notification under paragraph (4) (except for the notification that the obligee received payment of all of the seized monetary claim) or paragraph (5) within an inalterable period of one week after the attaching obligee is notified of a judicial decision to set aside the order of seizure pursuant to the preceding paragraph, the decision ceases to be effective.

If an attaching obligee gives notification to the enforcement court that the obligee does not receive the payment of paragraph (3) before a period under paragraph (5) has passed, regarding the application of the provisions of paragraph (5) and paragraph (6), it is deemed that the notification under paragraph (5) is given.