Govt Adopts Bill to Overhaul Japan's Guardianship System

Tokyo, April 3 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government adopted on Friday a bill designed to overhaul Japan's adult guardianship system for people with dementia and others, aiming to improve user convenience amid an aging society.

The bill is also aimed at enabling the creation of so-called digital wills. The government hopes to enact the bill during the ongoing session of the Diet, or Japan's parliament.

The new adult guardianship system allows people to opt out of support based on their needs. The current system requires the restoration of decision-making capabilities to terminate such support.

The new system also allows support recipients to flexibly replace their guardians, a process that is currently difficult under the existing system except in cases of embezzlement and other misconduct.

The bill calls for consolidating the current three types of guardianship, which are based on users' judgment abilities, into a single category of assistant, and for allowing the setting of assistants' powers on a case-by-case basis, such as support related to inheritance and real estate sales.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]