The Legislative Council, an advisory body for the justice minister, has introduced in an outline of Civil Code revisions the right for a widow or a widower to continue to live in an inherited residence. The government plans to submit the necessary legislation to the Diet during the current session. The new right, which as a concept differs from ownership of a residence and land in inheritance, will help relieve widows and widowers of financial worries following the death of their spouses. But the right of residency will be accorded only to people in legal marriage. People in a non-legal de facto marriage will not be entitled to the new right. Whether in a legal marriage or in a de facto marriage, the fact remains that the couple are living in a state of marriage. The Justice Ministry should rethink the Legislative Council's recommendation from the viewpoint of ensuring equal treatment to married couples irrespective of their legal status.
To understand the concept of the right of residency, it is important to know the background of its introduction by the advisory council. In September 2013, the Supreme Court decided that a Civil Code provision that gives illegitimate children a smaller portion of a legacy than legitimate children — half the amount the latter are entitled to — is unconstitutional. In December that same year, a bill to revise the Civil Code in accordance with the Supreme Court decision was enacted. But some Liberal Democratic Party members expressed a belief this would lead to a collapse of the family system. Responding to their argument, the Justice Ministry started to consider ways to give preferential treatment to legally married couples. In 2015, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa asked the advisory body to consider and submit recommendations related to the matter.
Members of the advisory council paid attention to the possibility that although a widow or widower is legally entitled to inherit half of a legacy, if she or he inherits residential property that has a high appraised value, the amount of cash and savings she or he gets will be reduced, thus causing financial difficulty.