Supreme Court approves custody mother's petition for extradition of child

Regarding a petition by a mother who had custody rights to take care of her child after living separately and demanded her husband to forcibly hand over the child, the Supreme Court ruled, ``If the child refuses, the handover will be accepted. It is not a reason not to do so," and decided to accept the allegation.

A woman in Wakayama Prefecture asked her separated husband to hand over her son, and last year, a ruling was finalized to recognize her mother as a custodian and order her to be handed over.

However, her son, who was eight years old at the time, refused to go to her mother, and her handover had not materialized. I was filing.

The Wakayama Family Court ordered the father to pay 20,000 yen per day until the son was handed over, saying, ``Considering the age of the child, it would not be harsh to be forced to hand over,'' but the Osaka High Court decided that ``the son has a clear intention to refuse, and considering the impact on his mind and body, it would be difficult to hand over the child,'' and dismissed the mother's claim.

Regarding this, Chief Judge Yasumasa Nagamine of the 3rd Petty Court of the Supreme Court said, ``The mere fact that the child refused is not a reason not to approve the handover. The Osaka High Court's decision was revoked and the mother's claim was confirmed.

“Efforts should be made to persuade first,” the judge added.

In the decision, among the five judges, Katsuya Uga, a scholar, gave a supplementary opinion in favor of the conclusion.

In the supplementary opinion, regarding the decision of the Osaka High Court that emphasized the intention of the eldest son who clearly refused to hand over, he said, "I can sympathize with some parts, but I feel hesitant to think that it is an abuse of rights." In this case, although the father was willing to cooperate with the handover, there was not enough effort to remove the strong feelings of rejection towards the eldest son's mother."

And if such efforts cannot be expected to alleviate the feeling of refusal, it is possible to file a petition to change the custody of the eldest son to the father or to stop the forced handover. , First of all, I said that I wanted you to make an effort to persuade my eldest son.