①The provisions of Articles 23 to 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis to court advisors.

②Once a petition to disqualify or challenge a court advisor is filed, the advisor may not participate in the case with respect to which the petition has been filed until the ruling on the petition becomes final and binding.

If a current or former court advisor divulges, without legitimate grounds, a personal secret learned in relation to the matters they have handled in the course of duty, they are subject to imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen.

①Except as otherwise provided, in a personal status action that is filed by one party to the familial relationship that the action in question concerns, the other party to the familial relationship is to be named as the defendant.

②Except as otherwise provided, in a personal status action that is filed by a person other than a party to the familial relationship that the action in question concerns, both of the parties to the familial relationship are to be named as defendant; if one of the parties has died, the other party is to be named as the defendant.

③If a person that is to be named as a defendant in the relevant action pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs dies and there is no other person that is to be named as a defendant, the public prosecutor is to be named as the defendant.

①The provisions of Article 5, paragraphs (1) and (2) of the Civil Code and of Article 9, Article 13, and Article 17 of that Code, as well as the provisions of Article 31 of the Code of Civil Procedure and of Article 32, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 40, paragraph (4) of that Code) and Article 32, paragraph (2) of that Code do not apply to procedural acts in personal status litigation proceedings.

②If a person with a limited capacity to engage in procedural acts seeks to engage in procedural acts under the preceding paragraph, the presiding judge, upon petition, may appoint an attorney as the person's counsel if found necessary to do so.

③If a person with a limited capacity to engage in procedural acts does not file the petition under the preceding paragraph, the presiding judge may still order appointment of an attorney as the person's counsel, or may appoint an attorney as the person's counsel sua sponte.

④The amount of remuneration the person with a limited capacity to engage in procedural acts is to pay to the attorney appointed by the presiding judge as the person’s counsel pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs is to be the amount the court finds reasonable.

①If a person who is to be the plaintiff or defendant in a personal status action is an adult ward, the guardian may sue or be sued in their stead provided, however, that this does not apply if the guardian is the other party to the litigation connected with that action.

②In the case referred to in the proviso to the preceding paragraph, the adult guardianship supervisor may sue or be sued instead of the adult ward.

①In personal status litigation in which the public prosecutor is named as the defendant, if the court finds it necessary to have a third party whose rights of inheritance are compromised as a result of the litigation (referred to below as an "interested party") intervene in the litigation, the court may issue a ruling to have the interested party intervene in the litigation in order for the interested party to assist the defendant.

②Before issuing the ruling referred to in the preceding paragraph, the court must hear the opinions of the parties and of the interested party.

③The provisions of Article 45, paragraph (2) of the Code of Civil Procedure do not apply to interested parties who, based on an application as referred to in Article 43, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure or based on a ruling as referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article, have intervened in personal status litigation in which the public prosecutor is named as the defendant.

④The provisions of Article 40, paragraphs (1) through (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure (for paragraph (3) of that Article, this is limited to the part concerning the suspension of court proceedings) apply mutatis mutandis to interested parties referred to in the preceding paragraph.

⑤The court may revoke an order under paragraph (1) of this Article.

①In personal status litigation that has the public prosecutor as a party, the court costs that the public prosecutor would be required to bear if the circumstances were governed by the provisions of Articles 61 through 66 of the Code of Civil Procedure are to be borne by the national treasury.

②The provisions of Articles 61 through 66 of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis to the bearing of court costs if an interested party, based on an application as referred to in Article 43, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure or a ruling as referred to in paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, has intervened in personal status litigation in which the public prosecutor is named as the defendant.

①A summons for an appearance date in personal status litigation proceedings is made through the service of a writ of summons, an announcement of the date to a person who has appeared in connection with the case in question, or any other method found to be appropriate.

②If a summons for an appearance date is made other than through the service of a writ of summons or an announcement of the date to a person who has appeared in connection with the case in question, no legal sanction or other disadvantage may be attributed to a person who does not appear on that date; however, this does not apply if the relevant person has submitted a document stating that the person has received a summons for the appearance date.

Service by public notice in personal status litigation proceedings is made by the court clerk keeping the documents to be served and posting, on the court's bulletin board, a notice to the effect that the documents will be delivered to the person to be served at any time.

①Among petitions and other statements in personal status litigation proceedings (referred to below in this Article as "motion or statement"), a motion or statement that is to be made by means of a paper document, etc. (meaning a paper document, written material, transcript, extract, authenticated copy, duplicate copy, extra copy, or any other paper or other tangible object into which information that can be perceived with the human senses, such as characters and shapes, has been entered; the same applies in the following paragraph and paragraph (4)) pursuant to the provisions of this Act or other laws and regulations relevant to that motion or statement, and that is made to a court designated by the Supreme Court (including one made to the presiding judge, authorized judge, commissioned judge, or court clerk of that court), may, notwithstanding the provisions of those laws and regulations, be made by using an electronic data processing system (meaning an electronic data processing system that connects a computer (including input and output devices; the same applies in this paragraph and paragraph (3) below) used by the court and a computer used by the person filing the motion or statement over telecommunication lines), as provided for by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

②A motion or statement filed pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph is deemed to have been filed by means of a paper document, etc. prescribed in the provisions of the laws and regulations relevant to the motion or statement, in which it is provided that the motion or statement is to be filed by means of a paper document, etc., and the provisions of the laws and regulations relevant to the motion or statement apply.

③A motion or statement filed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) is deemed to have arrived at the court as referred to in that paragraph when it is recorded in a file stored on the computer used by that court.

④Notwithstanding the provisions of other laws and regulations relevant to the motion or statement, in the case referred to in paragraph (1), a person filing a motion or statement that is to bear a signature, etc. (meaning the relevant person's signature, name, or seal or other inclusion of the relevant person's name or trade name in the paper document, etc.; hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph) pursuant to the provisions of those laws and regulations, in lieu of affixing this signature, etc., is to take measures to clarify the name or trade name of the person filing the motion or statement, as provided for by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

⑤When a motion or statement filed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) has been recorded in the file prescribed in paragraph (3), the court as referred to in paragraph (1) is to output the contents of the data recorded in the file in the form of a paper document.

⑥Inspection or copying of the case records, or the issuance of an authenticated copy, transcript, or extract thereof, under Article 91, paragraph (1) or (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure with regard to a motion or statement filed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) is to be made by means of the paper document referred to in the preceding paragraph. The same applies to the service or transmission of documents pertaining to that motion or statement.

①Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 136 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 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 filed in a single action. In that case, the family court that has jurisdiction over the claim relating to personal status litigation may itself conduct a trial and render a judgment in the litigation involving the claim for damages.

②In addition to the cases provided for in the preceding paragraph, an action to claim damages arising from facts constituting a cause of action relating to personal status litigation may be filed with the family court before which that personal status litigation is already pending. In that case, the provisions of the second sentence of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis.

③The provisions of Article 8, paragraph (2) apply mutatis mutandis to both the personal status litigation case referred to in the preceding paragraph and the case involving the claim for damages referred to in that paragraph, in a situation as referred to in that paragraph.