Japanese Government Revises Discriminatory Provisions

Recently, the Diet has amended a bill to remove the discriminatory provisions regarding the inheritance rights of children born out of wedlock. The amendment is removing the provision limiting an inheritance to an out of wedlock child to half of that of a marital child. The action followed the Supreme Court’s Grand Bench that stated the article “runs counter to the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law.”

See Yomiuri Shimbun Spouse’s Rights Must Be Respected Despite Change on Inheritance Rights, Japan News, Dec. 9, 2013.