Fines eyed for child handover refusal 

September 10, 2017

TOKYO- A Japanese Justice Ministry panel on Friday set an interim draft of a planned bill to impose fines on parents who refuse court orders to hand over children after losing custody due to divorce.

The draft to revise the civil affairs execution law, mapped out by the Legislative Council, says the fines should be increased by the day until children are handed over to the parents with custody.

The ministry plans to submit the bill to the ordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, next year, after seeking public comments and winning endorsement from the advisory body for the justice minister.

The draft spells out rules for the transfers of children between divorced parents, as the current law has no provisions on the matter.

To write the draft, the council referred to the so-called Hague treaty on parental custody of children after the breakups of international marriages and a domestic law to implement the treaty. Jiji Press