Govt Adopts Bill to Overhaul Japan’s Guardianship System

Tokyo, April 3 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government adopted on Friday a bill designed to overhaul Japan’s adult guardianship system for people with dementia and others, aiming to improve user convenience amid an aging society. The bill is also aimed at enabling the creation of so-called digital wills. The government hopes to enact the bill during the ongoing session of the Diet, or Japan’s parliament. The new adult guardianship system allows people to opt out of support based on their needs. The current system requires the restoration of decision-making capabilities to terminate such support. The new system also allows support recipients to flexibly replace their guardians, a process that is currently difficult under the existing system except in cases of embezzlement and other misconduct. The bill calls for consolidating the current three types of guardianship, which are based on users’ judgment abilities, into a single category of assistant, and for allowing the setting of assistants’ powers on a case-by-case basis, such as support related to inheritance and real estate sales. It also creates a new system in which assistants can revoke important asset-related transactions when support recipients lack the capacity to make judgments. People receiving support under the current system can continue to receive aid under the guardianship types set to be scrapped by the bill. On the testament system, the bill allows for digital wills to be created on computers and smartphones and the data to be stored at the Justice Ministry’s regional legal affairs bureaus. Testators will be required to read aloud the full text to bureau staff in person or through online meetings, to ensure that wills are not forged or created under duress. The bill is designed to scrap a requirement for seals, including for holographic wills. It also calls for easing requirements for special wills created amid sudden illness and disasters. The number of required witnesses will be reduced to one, on the condition that video or audio recordings or online meetings be used to log wills, and natural disasters, such as large earthquakes, will be added to situations under which special wills can be made. The new adult guardianship system will take effect within two years and six months following the bill’s passage, while the digital wills system will be introduced within one year. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]