Divorce Certificates in Japan

Below is the price list for each service.

Obtain a certificate of divorce
US$500.00
Turn around time: 1 week.

Apostille of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
US$250.00
Turn around time: 1 week.

Translation
US$240.00
Turn around time: 3 business days.

Apostille of the translated document
US$240.00
Turn around time: 3 business days.

Shipping fee

US$30.00.

No. Japanese courts do not document divorces. We are supposed to obtain divorce certificates from local city halls.

There are two types of divorcee in Japan:

• Divorce by agreement 
• Divorce in a court 

You can get divorced by mutually signing a divorce application and submitting it at a city hall in Japan.

Only when you cannot mutually agree to the conditions of the divorce, you will go to a court. Even the divorce is settled in a court, the divorce is registered in city halls.

They are different.

Koseki family registry records include birth, marriage, divorce, and death. So they are a better document than divorce certificates domestically in Japan. But people in other countries may not understand this system because this system is unique.

Some countries do not understand the divorce by the agreement that is only to be registered at a local city hall. Some of them have a prejudice that a divorce cannot take place outside a court. The documents issued by the Japanese city halls in Japan are as legally binding as the divorce judgment issued by family courts.

Therefore, the independent divorce certificate is better in other countries. However, the Koseki family registry may work depending on the jurisdiction.
Unless you specify the type of document, the Japanese city hall won’t issue an independent divorce certificate because it is only needed for other countries.

This is how we work:
First, we obtain the certificate from the local city hall. (US$500.00)
Secondly, we bring the certificate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make it apostille. (US$250.00)

To obtain Koseki records, you need to provide “the permanent domicile (Honseki) of Mai” to the local city hall.

To identify the permanent domicile, you need to locate the address of your ex or their parents.

In Japan, personal information such as residence address is controlled as strict as guns. So, the personal address is not searchable in any of the government records such as electoral roll or utility records. All the government records are strictly confidential in Japan

Here is how we proceed with this,
1) Obtain residence registry record through the help of our allied attorney
Our fee is US$500.00.
2) Obtain your Koseki registry record through your letter of authorization. (You can do it for yourself if you don’t mind the nightmare like paperwork)
Our fee is SU$400.00.00.