①Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 143, paragraphs (1) and (4) of the Code of Civil Procedure and of Article 146, paragraph (1) and Article 300 of that Code, in personal status litigation proceedings, a plaintiff may amend a claim or cause of action, and a defendant may file a counterclaim, until the conclusion of the oral arguments in the first or second instance.

②If the Japanese courts would have no jurisdiction over the claim relating to personal status litigation resulting from the amendment of a claim, the plaintiff may amend a claim pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph only if in the resulting claim the plaintiff seeks to change the status of the same familial relationship as the one involved in the pre-amendment claim or seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether that familial relationship exists.

③If the Japanese courts have no jurisdiction over a claim as set forth in one of the following items that is the subject of a counterclaim, the defendant may file a counterclaim under the provisions of paragraph (1) only in the case specified in that item:

①The provisions of Article 157 of the Code of Civil Procedure and of Article 157-2, Article 159, paragraph (1), Article 207, paragraph (2), Article 208, Article 224, Article 229, paragraph (4), and Article 244 of that Code, as well as the part of the provisions of Article 179 of that Code concerning facts admitted by a party in court, do not apply to court proceedings in personal status litigation.

②The provisions of Articles 266 through 267-2 of the Code of Civil Procedure do not apply to the subject matter of the action in personal status litigation.

In personal status litigation, the court may take facts which are not asserted by the parties into consideration and examine evidence on its own authority. In that case, the court must hear the opinions of the parties regarding the facts and the results of the examination of the evidence.

①In personal status litigation, if the court will examine a party, the court may order the party to appear on a court date.

②The provisions of Articles 192 through 194 of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis if a party ordered to appear pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph does not appear without a legitimate reason.

①The court may issue a ruling to conduct an examination concerning a particular matter in camera if a party to personal status litigation or their legal representative (collectively referred to below as a "party or representative" in this paragraph and the following paragraph) or a witness is to be examined regarding a matter that is the basis for the familial relationship status change or declaratory judgment as to whether a familial relationship exists that is the subject matter of the action being litigated, and that concerns a deep personal secret from the private life of the person subject to examination, if the court finds unanimously that the party, representative, or witness would be unable to enter a sufficient statement regarding the subject matter in open court because it is clear that doing so would substantially interfere with their life in the community, and that the court cannot make an appropriate judicial decision on the status change or declaratory judgment in question in the absence of the statement, based solely on the other evidence.

②Before issuing the ruling referred to in the preceding paragraph, the court must listen to the opinions of each party or representative, and witness.

③If a court conducts an examination concerning a particular matter in camera pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), it must make an announcement to that effect along with the reasons for doing so before having the public leave the courtroom. Once the examination concerning the matter in question has ended, the court must allow the public to re-enter the courtroom.

①In personal status litigation, the court or an authorized judge or commissioned judge may have the public prosecutor attend on a court date and state an opinion on the case if they find this to be necessary.

②If the public prosecutor attends on a court date pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, they may assert facts or offer evidence.

①Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 115, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, a final and binding judgment in personal status litigation is effective against third parties.

②Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if a claim has been filed to rescind a marriage due to violation of the provisions of Article 732 of the Civil Code, a final and binding judgment dismissing the claim with prejudice is effective against a spouse from an earlier marriage only if that spouse has intervened in the litigation involving that claim.

①After a judgment on personal status litigation (excluding a judgment denying an action as not in accordance with the law; the same applies in the following paragraph) becomes final and binding, the plaintiff may not file a personal status action concerning the same familial relationship based on facts that the plaintiff could have asserted by amending the claim or the cause of action in that litigation.

②After a judgment on personal status litigation becomes final and binding, the defendant may not file a personal status action concerning the same familial relationship based on facts that the defendant could have asserted by filing a counterclaim in that litigation.

①If both of the parties to the familial relationship that an action related to personal status concerns are named as defendants pursuant to the provisions of Article 12, paragraph (2) and one of them dies, litigation proceeds with the other party as the defendant. The provisions of Article 124, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Code of Civil Procedure do not apply in that case.

②In a case as referred to in Article 12, paragraph (1) or (2), if all of the defendants die, the litigation proceeds with the public prosecutor as the defendant.

①Except as otherwise provided, personal status litigation is terminated automatically if the plaintiff dies while it is pending.

②Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article, personal status litigation in which the subject matter is a divorce, rebuttal of the presumption of legitimacy (excluding cases where the father is the defendant), or the dissolution of an adoptive relationship is terminated by operation of law if the defendant dies while it is pending.

The court must notify that litigation has become pending before it to a party who has an interest in the action concerning personal status that has been filed and who is specified by the Rules of the Supreme Court as a person whom it is appropriate to notify, such as the child of the father in question in the event that an action for filiation has been filed after the father has died provided, however, that this is limited to cases in which the interested party's name and domicile or residence are found in the case record.

①The provisions of Articles 3-2 through 3-10, Article 145, paragraph (3), and Article 146, paragraph (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure do not apply to a personal status action.

②In personal status litigation proceedings, the provisions of Article 71, paragraph (2), Article 91-2, Article 92, paragraphs (9) and (10), Article 92-2, paragraph (2), Article 94, Article 100, paragraph (2), Part I, Chapter V, Section 4, Subsection 3, Article 111, Article 132-6, paragraph (3), Part I, Chapter VII, Article 133-2, paragraphs (5) and (6), Article 133-3, paragraph (2), Article 151, paragraph (3), Article 160, paragraph (2), Article 161, paragraph (3), item (iii), Article 185, paragraph (3), Article 205, paragraph (2), Article 215, paragraph (2), Article 227, paragraph (2), Article 232-2, Article 253, paragraph (2), and Part VII of the Code of Civil Procedure do not apply.

③With regard to the application of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure to personal status litigation proceedings, the terms and phrases listed in the middle column of the Appended Table in the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure listed in the left-hand column of the table are to be respectively replaced with the terms and phrases listed in the right-hand column of the table.

①Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 12, paragraph (1) of the Civil Provisional Remedies Act (Act No. 91 of 1989), a case involving an order for provisional remedy in which personal status litigation constitutes the merits of the case falls under the jurisdiction of either the court with jurisdiction over the primary action or the family court that has jurisdiction in the locality of the property subject to provisional attachment or the subject matter in dispute.

②If both a claim relating to personal status litigation and a claim for damages arising from facts that constitute a cause of action associated with that claim may be brought in a single action, a petition seeking an order for a provisional remedy in connection with that claim for damages may be filed with the family court that has jurisdiction in the locality of the property to be provisionally seized or the disputed subject matter.