In general, there are two ways that child support payments are set in Japan. Either the parties can agree to any amount of child support that they want, or the family court can order a specific amount. In most cases, the family court encourages mutual agreement between parents of a child in terms of the payment of child support. It is always more likely that a spouse will voluntarily pay child support every month if the amount has been mutually agreed upon, rather than ordered by a judge.
However, the family court is also vested with the power to make child support orders in situations where the parents cannot agree. The formula itself is relatively simple and is usually displayed as a graph, with each axis representing one parent’s income. The judge will simply find the point where the two parents’ income meets on the graph. That point will suggest a range for the child support payment that can be adjusted by the judge depending on the specific circumstances of the family.
Since child custody in Japan is always granted as sole custody to one parent, child support is always paid from the non-custodial parent to the parent with custody over the child.
Ideally, the child support payment should be paid once per month on a date set by the parents. However, many divorces are concluded without making arraignments for child support and many custodial parents do not collect anything from the other parent. Some parents see the lack of child support payments as a tradeoff for no custody or visitation rights. Unfortunately, in many cases this can put an unfair and unreasonable burden on the custodial parent to assume full financial responsibility for raising the child. When possible, both parents should try to make economic contributions to the child’s welfare.