Japan to change 120-year-old paternity rule in civil code

100-day wait-period for remarriage to be dropped for pregnant women

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Some women who give birth after a divorce opt not to report the birth because the child will be treated as their ex-husband's.

YUKI NAKAMURA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Japan should end a 120-year-old rule that presumes a baby born within 300 days of the mother's divorce is the child of her previous husband, a government panel recommended Tuesday, a milestone that would end a practice largely considered outdated.

The panel also said pregnant women should be allowed to remarry without waiting 100 days after getting divorced as required under current law.

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