Random question about Japanese family law

[Yume_Silvermoon]

Partly for a story I'm writing and partly just out of curiosity.

So... as I understand it, under the Japanese civil code, children born out of wedlock assume their mother's family name. But the father can officially acknowledge the child as his, even if he's married to someone else. I'm pretty sure being acknowledged is not the same as being legitimate though, so I'm kind of confused. Would an "illegitimate" child acknowledged in this way assume his/her father's family name?

(Apologies if this is a double post. I'm having some issues with the forum...)

[Universal Disaster]

umm i think so, in a series im reading (friuts Basket) Theres a character who was born of some guys mistress and he was still in the runnign for the family buisness besides being born of another woman AND having her last name!

and as we all know in America we are forced to wait an extra few months for the manga to be artistically translated form the original JAPANESE!!!!

[Kamirose]

Universal Disaster

umm i think so, in a series im reading (friuts Basket) Theres a character who was born of some guys mistress and he was still in the runnign for the family buisness besides being born of another woman AND having her last name!

and as we all know in America we are forced to wait an extra few months for the manga to be artistically translated form the original JAPANESE!!!!

That's not Fruits Basket. And since when do manga have to be realistic and follow true-to-life laws?

[PAnZuRiEL]

Kamirose

Universal Disaster

umm i think so, in a series im reading (friuts Basket) Theres a character who was born of some guys mistress and he was still in the runnign for the family buisness besides being born of another woman AND having her last name!

and as we all know in America we are forced to wait an extra few months for the manga to be artistically translated form the original JAPANESE!!!!

That's Host Club, not Fruits Basket. And since when do manga have to be realistic and follow true-to-life laws?

It's not Host Club. Tamaki has his father's surname, Suou. His mother was French, I think.


But nevertheless, do not attempt to apply fictional content to the real world.

[An Unknown Kunoichi]

PAnZuRiEL

Kamirose

Universal Disaster

umm i think so, in a series im reading (friuts Basket) Theres a character who was born of some guys mistress and he was still in the runnign for the family buisness besides being born of another woman AND having her last name!

and as we all know in America we are forced to wait an extra few months for the manga to be artistically translated form the original JAPANESE!!!!

That's Host Club, not Fruits Basket. And since when do manga have to be realistic and follow true-to-life laws?

It's not Host Club. Tamaki has his father's surname, Suou. His mother was French, I think.


But nevertheless, do not attempt to apply fictional content to the real world.

Well, either way, it's definetely not Fruits Basket. Unless it is an additional character in the manga, which I highly doubt.

[Kamirose]

Haha sorry skimmed his post, and only saw the 'mistress' and 'family business' part. My mistake.
Still not FB. And not an additional character, FB was my obsession for many, many years and I've taken apart and analyzed it like you would a book in an English class >_>

[Yume_Silvermoon]

Thanks for the replies! I guess if a manga can get away with it maybe my story can too.

But I was specifically wondering about the issue of the child's last name, not so much inheritance. I'm pretty sure the situation in the manga you're talking about is pretty normal. A child born to a mistress would take his mother's last name and go on her koseki. I'm pretty sure an acknowledged illegitimate child is entitled to half the inheritance of the man's legitimate children.

The scenario I'm dealing with is a girl born out of wedlock to two single Japanese parents. Her citizenship isn't in question, but her mother is trying to get him to acknowledge her for emotional reasons (he doesn't have much of an inheritance to speak of.) What she ends up doing is bringing a paternity suit against him to force him to acknowledge the child, then getting the family court to change her daughter's name to her (now legal) father's. I think in that case the child would get her own koseki rather than going on her mother's. Is this remotely realistic? ^_^;