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Process Service In Japan
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Process Service From Foreign Court
Personal process serving is the delivery of legal documents from a foreign court. It is regarded as an informal method in Japan. The official delivery method is through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese courts based on Hague Service Convention.
You Can Dispute The Validity of This Service
The recipient can dispute this service and decide to shift to the following methods.
- Switch to the Hague complying service through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Change the jurisdiction of the case to Japan rather than a foreign country
If you respond to a foreign court that you don’t have an objection to this process service, legal proceedings will commence in a foreign court.
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What To Do Next
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| No objection | You will contact the foreign court. |
| You want to avoid this proceeding | You will contact the plaintiff and switch to settlement consultation. |
| Do nothing | Disadvantageous judgements or dispositions could be rules in the foreign court. However, thereafter, it may be possible for the Japanese court to invalidate the judgement or disposition based on your dispute. |
| Avoid the most legal procedures | Contact the plaintiff and switch to settlement proceeding |
| Do nithing | The ruling is finalized in your absence |
By appealing to the delivery method, you can invalidate the informal process serving. However, the plaintiff will redo a Hague complying serving. Therefore, if you agree to respond to the procedure in a foreign court, the proceeding can be quicker and more convenient than dispute the validity of the method.
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Common Reactions From Japan’s Attorneys
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“Practice of International Divorce: from the Basics of Divorce Cases to the Hague Convention”
Mikiko Otani, Fujiko Sakakihara, Tamiko Nakamura, Nippon Kajo Publishing, cited from 2.2012
Delivery from Foreign Countries to Japan
Designated authority service/central authority service
In cases where foreign service is made by a contracting party to the Code of Civil Procedure to Japan by means of designated authority service, and in cases where foreign service is made by a contracting party to the Code of Civil Procedure to Japan by means of a central authority service to Japan, the designated authority and the central authority of Japan are the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Article 2・24 of the Special Law on Special Provisions). Requests for service received by the Minister for Foreign Affairs shall be forwarded through the Supreme Court to the district court having jurisdiction over the defendant’s domicile and the district court shall implement the service (Articles 3 and 25 of the Special Measures Law).
In the case of a request for the service of a case under the jurisdiction of a family court, the request for service or the transfer from the district court to the family court shall be made, and the family court shall carry out the service (Article 4 and Article 25 of the Special Law).
Cases in which the validity of service from a foreign state is in question
Service by direct delivery
In Japan, judicial documents are served either directly by a court or to the person to whom the service is addressed, whereas in many countries, including the United States, service is made by a method in which a private person delivers the document directly to the person to whom it is addressed.
For this reason, the service of documents at the court may be made by direct delivery from the state where the documents are supposed to be served directly to the defendant or counterparty in Japan.
However, there is a Supreme Court decision that invalidates foreign service by direct delivery from the Hong Kong court. The Supreme Court Judgment on April 28, 1998 (Minshu 52-3-853).
Responding to Counseling on Unlawful Delivery from Foreign Countries
In cases where service by direct delivery or service by direct mail without attachment of translation is not deemed to be legitimate service, even if a judgment is rendered without an appeal, the effect of the judgment of the foreign court in Japan may be challenged after the matter on the ground that the requirement for service for the recognition of the foreign judgment (Article 118, item 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure) is lacking.
In many cases, service from a foreign country does not satisfy the requirement of jurisdiction for recognition of a foreign judgment (Article 118, item 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure), for example, where a foreign spouse who had been married in Japan returned to his/her own country and filed a divorce suit with a foreign court.
However, contesting a lack of jurisdiction also falls under the category of “response to a lawsuit” provided in Article 118, sub-para.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Supreme Court, Judgment No. 0.4.28, above). Therefore, if a party wishes to assert later that the requirements for service are not met, then a response to a dispute over jurisdiction should not be instituted.
However, even if the service is not lawful, a divorce judgment will be rendered unattended, and rather than contesting the invalidity at a later date, the party may respond to the complaint and seek dismissal by asserting that there is no jurisdiction. Or the party may also wish to divorce (consent) and wish to settle the issue of parental authority/custody of the child, child support, and asset division in a foreign court.
In such a case, it is appropriate for the attorney to explain that if he/she responds to an unlawful service, he/she will not later contest the validity of the judgment of a foreign court in Japan and leave it to the judgment of the parties.
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