The first consultation is 30 minutes and there is no charge for it. Thirty minutes is enough to tell you which country’s law applies to your divorce, what your realistic options are, and what it would cost — but only if we are not spending twenty of those minutes establishing basic facts.
So we ask you to send us the answers below beforehand. Most people take fifteen minutes over it.
You do not have to answer everything. Send what you know, and mark the rest “not sure” — that is itself useful information.
What to send, and why each answer matters
1. You and your spouse
- Your nationality, and your spouse’s
- Which country each of you lives in now
- If either of you is in Japan: your status of residence, and roughly when it expires
- If either of you is outside Japan: since when
Why. Nationality and habitual residence are what decide which country’s law governs your divorce. Where your spouse lives decides how documents can be served on them and how long that takes. Status of residence carries its own deadlines, separate from anything to do with the divorce.
2. Your marriage
- Where the marriage ceremony took place
- Where it was registered — and whether it appears in a Japanese family register (koseki)
- The date
Why. Whether the marriage is recorded in a Japanese register affects what Japan can do and what paperwork exists at the end. If it is registered somewhere else as well, that country will have its own requirements when the divorce is done.
3. Children
- How many, and their ages
- Their nationality or nationalities
- Which country each child lives in now, and who they live with
- Whether any of them holds Japanese nationality
Why. Where a child habitually lives can determine which country’s courts may decide about them, and that is not always the same country whose law governs the divorce. A child’s own nationality and status of residence are decided by different rules from the parents’.
4. Where things stand
- Does your spouse agree to a divorce, as far as you know?
- Are you living apart? Since when?
- Has anything already been filed in Japan — mediation, or a court case?
- 🔴 Has anything been started in another country? A divorce petition, a separation, a custody or maintenance application — anything.
Why. The last one matters more than people expect. If proceedings already exist elsewhere, that changes what is possible in Japan and can change the order in which things have to be done. It is the single question most often left out of a first call.
5. Money and property
- Which countries the assets are in — property, savings, pensions, company shares
- Whether either of you has income or assets in Japan
- Whether anything is already being paid, and how
Why. A Japanese order can be enforced against salary and assets located in Japan. If nothing is in Japan, enforcement is a different and harder question, and that has to shape the strategy from the start rather than being discovered at the end.
6. What you would like to happen
In your own words, a few sentences. What matters most to you, and what you are most worried about.
How to send it
Email your answers to info@law-childsupport.com, or paste them into the enquiry form. Put “Intake” in the subject line.
Please do not send documents yet. After the consultation we will tell you exactly which documents are needed and where to obtain them. Sending a folder of papers in advance rarely saves time, and some of it will turn out not to be required.
What happens in the 30 minutes
- Which country’s law applies to your divorce, and why
- Which routes are open to you in Japan, and what each one produces on paper
- What is likely to be contested, and what usually is not
- What it would cost, by stage — and when each amount falls due
- What we cannot answer, and who can
If we think your matter is better handled by someone else, we will say so in that meeting.
Yusuke Sasaki conducts these consultations in English himself.
Sending this information does not create a lawyer-client relationship, and we will not act for you until an engagement letter is signed. We treat what you send as confidential.