What happens to home if divorced?

I am thinking about buying a mansion in Tokyo. My wife is Japanese. If I do, 100% of the money to buy it will come from money I had before our marriage. Our relationship is excellent but, of course, no one knows the future so I am wondering what would happen to the mansion if at some future time we get divorced? Would it still be mine as separate property or would it likely be handed over to her since she is Japanese and I am not?

I know some of you might think that a person should not think about this sort of thing if the relationship is good, but I have been around long enough to know that anything can happen in the future so it is important to at least know what the potential financial impact is when making decisions such as buying real estate in another country. If in the future something happens to me and we are still together then, of course, I want her to have it.

Since I am not Japanese would the ownership be in both of our names?

Thank you!

waywest,

- If you are paying for it all, you can register it in your sole ownership if you want to. (You just need to register your name - assuming your name is written in alphabets - in "katakana" as alias with Alien Registration at the city hall because the real estate registrar accepts only kanji or kana
writing as the title holders' names.)

- (I'm assuming not, but, in case you need to take out a partial loan from a bank in Japan to pay for it, if you are not Permanent Resident or Naturalized, you will probably not be able to take out a loan - in which case the loan would *have*to be in your wife's name, then it will probably end up as joint names.)

- Whatever asset owned prior to marriage, or asset purchased with financial means of one of the parties prior to the marriage will remain that party's asset. It will not be considered "joint assets," thus not subject to splitting. I don't see any reason why, in case of a, well, divorce, the
house automatically becomes your wife's just because you are not Japanese. (And if family court is invited to get involved, they look at the "substance" of who has made the contribution to the purchase, not just the "name" on the title.)

- The only thing I can think of is that suppose the two of you cannot agree that the condo unit remains yours, then the family court comes in, then, IF your wife has no financial means of her own then and NEEDS that house to stay afloat, the family court might advise you to somehow give that to her so she can continue to live there, in exchange for... I don't know, all of joint asset, or something like that. But if you have enough foundation to show that it was all paid by your means prior to marriage, that should suffice to establish that it should remain yours.

Part of the above answers comes from my experience of having purchased a condominium unit with my non-Japanese spouse, and the rest NOT from experience of a divorce but only from my general knowledge of laws of Japan, though I'm no lawyer :)

First, let me apologize for being so late in thanking you. I know how annoying it can be to go the trouble of making a detailed reply and the OP disappearing. Thank you very much!

Even if we get a mansion I am not positive I will leave my wife's name off it. It is a difficult thing to do, but I know that that is true for most people and some people live to dearly regret it later. After all, we are talking about a substantial amount of money, not something like a car or television.

Hi there Tokyo 23-ku!

The only advice I can give you (out of own experience!!) is C.Y.A.!!!!!

You never know what will happen in the future (not hoping for it to happen). Set up a contract with your wife including who paid for what and what will happen in the event all goes wrong.

In my case, the ex got the house (20 million paid out of my pocket), but got stuck with the loan and the financing of our two daughters (school and so on). Did I get off cheap? I don't think so. I more or less started from scratch again 10 years ago - but hey, what can I say.

Everything in writing counts (and don't forget the "inkan"). In case of any questions, please get with me here: klausdorth(at)web.de, always ready and willing to help!!