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In Japan, the number of people choosing so-called “posthumous divorce” — legally severing ties with a deceased spouse’s family — is on the rise.
According to a report published Wednesday by Japanese newspaper Nikkei, the annual number of filings for “termination of affinity relations,” commonly referred to as posthumous divorce, increased for the third consecutive year, reaching 4,027 cases in 2024.
The number of such filings began rising in 2015, peaked in 2017, then declined through 2021 before turning upward again.
Posthumous divorce refers to a legal procedure in which a surviving spouse submits paperwork to local authorities declaring the end of legal ties with the deceased spouse’s relatives. Consent from the in-laws is not required, and they are not formally notified of the filing. However, the legal relationship between children and their grandparents remains intact.
