Domestic Relations Case Procedure Act

In proceedings for mediation of domestic relations regarding a matter against which an action concerning personal status may be filed (excluding an action for divorce and an action for the dissolution of an adoptive relationship), if both requirements set forth in the following items are satisfied, and when the family court, having examined the necessary facts, finds the agreement set forth in item (i) to be legitimate, it may make a ruling equivalent to the agreement (hereinafter referred to as a "ruling equivalent to an agreement"); provided, however, that this does not apply after the death of either of the parties to the family relationship concerned with the matter:

the parties have reached an agreement whereby they will be subject to a ruling to the same effect as the object of the petition; and

the parties do not dispute any cause of annulment or rescission or cause of the formation or existence of a family relationship which pertains to the petition.

The agreement set forth in item (i) of the preceding paragraph may not be reached by the method prescribed in Article 54, paragraph (1) as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 258, paragraph (1), and in Article 270, paragraph (1); provided, however, that this does not apply where it is done by a method by which the family court and both parties are able to converse while mutually recognizing each other's condition through video and audio transmissions.

When proceedings for mediation of domestic relations set forth in paragraph (1) are conducted by a mediation committee, and when the family court makes a ruling equivalent to an agreement, the family court must hear the opinions of the domestic relations mediation commissioners who compose the mediation committee.

The provisions of Article 272, paragraphs (1) through (3) apply mutatis mutandis when the family court does not find an agreement under the provisions of paragraph (1), item (i) to be legitimate.

The withdrawal of a petition for mediation of domestic relations does not become effective without the consent of the respondent after a ruling equivalent to an agreement is made.

A party and an interested party may file an objection with a family court with regard to a ruling equivalent to an agreement; provided, however, that a party may do so only on the grounds that the requirements set forth in the items of Article 277, paragraph (1) are not satisfied.

The objection under the provisions of the preceding paragraph must be filed within an unextendable period of two weeks.

The period set forth in the preceding paragraph runs from the day on which a person who may file an objection receives notice of a ruling if an objection may be filed by a person who is to receive notice of a ruling, or from the day on which the party receives notice of a ruling if an objection may be filed by a person other than a person who is to receive notice of a ruling (if there are two or more such days, the latest day), respectively.

A right to file an objection under the provisions of paragraph (1) may be waived.

A family court must dismiss an objection filed by a party under the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article when the objection is unlawful or when it finds the objection to be groundless. The same applies when an objection filed by an interested party under the provisions of the paragraph is unlawful.

An objector may file an immediate appeal against a ruling to dismiss an objection pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

When a party files a lawful objection, the family court must revoke a ruling equivalent to an agreement when it finds grounds for the objection.

When an interested party files a lawful objection, a ruling equivalent to an agreement ceases to be effective. In this case, the family court must give notice to that effect to the parties.

When, within two weeks from the day on which a party has received notice under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the party files an action on the case for which a petition for mediation of domestic relations has been filed, the action is deemed to have been filed at the time of the filing of the petition for mediation of domestic relations.

If no objection is filed under the provisions of Article 279, paragraph (1), or a ruling to dismiss an objection becomes final and binding, a ruling equivalent to an agreement has the same effect as a final and binding judgment.

In proceedings for mediation of domestic relations regarding the rescission of marriage, when the family court makes a ruling equivalent to an agreement on the rescission of marriage, it must designate a person who has parental authority over a child based on an agreement between the parties, in the ruling equivalent to an agreement.

The ruling equivalent to an agreement set forth in the preceding paragraph may not be made when an agreement has not been reached between the parties with regard to the designation of a person who has parental authority over a child or when an agreement which has been reached is found to be inappropriate.

When a father has died after filing a petition for mediation to rebut the presumption of a child born in wedlock, and a person whose right of inheritance would be infringed by the child pertaining to the petition or another relative of the father by blood within the third degree of kinship files an action to rebut the presumption of a child born in wedlock within one year from the date of the father's death, the action is deemed to have been filed at the time of the filing of the petition for mediation by the father.

When a ruling equivalent to an agreement on the rebuttal of presumption of a child born in wedlock, for a child whose father is determined pursuant to Article 772, paragraph (3) of the Civil Code, has become final and binding, the family court is to notify the former husband prescribed in Article 774, paragraph (4) of that Code (limited to one whose name and address or residence is known from the record of the case) of the content of the ruling equivalent to an agreement.

If a person who has made an acknowledgment dies after filing a petition for mediation regarding the invalidity of the acknowledgment on the grounds that there are facts contrary to the acknowledgment, and a person whose right of inheritance is harmed for the sake of the child concerned in the petition or any other blood relative within the third degree of kinship of the person who made the acknowledgment files an action for the invalidity of the acknowledgment on the grounds that there are facts contrary to the acknowledgment within one year from the date of death of the person who made the acknowledgment, the action is deemed to have been filed at the time of the petition for mediation filed by the person who made the acknowledgment.

If a child dies after filing a petition for mediation regarding the invalidity of an acknowledgment on the grounds that there are facts contrary to the acknowledgment, and a lineal descendant of the child or the child's legal representative files an action for the invalidity of the acknowledgment on the grounds that there are facts contrary to the acknowledgment within one year from the date of death of the child, the action is deemed to have been filed at the time of the petition for mediation filed by the child.