Japan-New Era of Divorce May Begin

A potential avalanche of divorces is set to occur after April 1, when a new system under the public pension scheme will begin, making a divorcing wife eligible for a maximum of 50 percent of her company employee husband's pension benefits.

Many women in their middle or older years are believed to be waiting for the system to begin before divorcing their husbands, according to analysts.

With the new system to start in less than six months, civic groups have been sponsoring explanatory sessions in many parts of the country. A great majority of attendants have been middle-aged and older women.

In a meeting held in Kawasaki last month, one woman said, "My husband would be certain to refuse a 50-50 split of pension benefits [if we divorced].

"What should I do if I don't get my husband to agree to an equitable split?"

Another woman asked, "So, the wife is eligible [to get part of the husband's pension] if she applies for it within two years after divorce?"

With the system, wives and their husbands, if they divorce on or after April 1, will have the right to have benefits, covering the length of their marriage, from his or her spouse under the employee pension plan (kosei nenkin) partially shifted to the spouse, if an application is made within two years after the divorce. The system will be available also to government employees covered by the mutual aid pension plan (kyosai nenkin.)

If a woman never worked full-time during her marriage, she will be eligible for up to 50 percent of her husband's benefits.

Sayoko Oya, a social insurance specialist who spoke at the Kawasaki meeting, said: "Under the current system, the husband is given about 200,000 yen per month in kosei nenkin benefits, while his wife, if divorced, cannot receive anything but basic pension benefits, which are far lower than kosei nenkin. This means divorced wives often find themselves with no other choice than to seek aid from the government's livelihood assistance program.

"The system so far has been a great disadvantage to wives when it comes to divorce."

Oya said she has had requests for her lectures on the benefit-splitting system from many local governments.

Prior to the system's inception, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Social Insurance Agency began services in October to calculate the amounts of kosei nenkin pension benefits husbands and wives would receive after divorcing.

During October, there were inquiries about the service from 1,355 people, about 90 percent of whom were women, the agency said.

If people who did not ask about specific benefits are included, there were 6,283 inquiries about the new system in October, reflecting strong public interest in the system, officials said.

The number of divorces has been declining in recent years.

In 2005 there were about 262,000 divorces, down 28,000 from 2002.

A recent drop in the unemployment rate is seen as one of the reasons for the lower divorce rate. But analysts note that the downtrend coincides with the time the ministry finished a draft for the pension-splitting system.

Many experts also have noted the current decline in divorces can be considered the calm before a storm and suspect a large number of wives will apply for divorces once the splitting system is in force.

The Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, Inc., a private think tank, notes that the decline in the divorce rate is considerably more significant than corresponding declines in past business recovery periods.

The institute estimates that 42,000 couples are preparing to initiate divorces once the benefit-splitting system is available.

Toshihiro Nagahama, the chief economist at the institute, said, "The longer the period of marriage, the more beneficial it is for the wife by taking advantage of the pension benefit-splitting system."

Nagahama's theory seems to gain credibility by a breakdown of divorces in 2005, which shows that the number of couples whose marriage periods were 25 to 30 years was down 21 percent from the corresponding figure for 2002. The rate of decrease in divorces in this age bracket in 2005 was about two times as high as those for the other brackets, he said.

"It is likely that divorces of baby-boomer couples may jump sharply in and after next spring," said Nagahama.

There are concerns, however, over the potential surge in divorces resulting from the pension benefit-splitting system.

Hiromi Ikeuchi, a consultant on marriage and family affairs, said: "The benefit-splitting system is tantamount to making both the husband and wife poorer. Living standards of divorced husbands and wives will surely be lowered."

Living separately after divorce means the need for separate living expenses, including housing, while it is hard for middle aged and older people, especially women, to find employment after divorce, Ikeuchi warned.

If a woman chooses not to divorce her company worker husband, she will be entitled to receive kosei nenkin pension for the bereaved for life after her husband's death.

Pensions for the bereaved will account for 75 percent of benefits for the husband, definitely more advantageous than the benefit-splitting in which the divorced wife can get half the husband's benefits at best.

About 80 people each month seek advice from Ikeuchi about divorces.

"Although divorce may be looked at positively as one of the options when a person tries to restructure his or her life while young, I always tell people in their middle and older years to try as much as possible to avoid divorce," she said.

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