A 79-year-old man in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is preparing to cancel the "assistance" (hojo) arrangement set up under the adult guardianship system for his 48-year-old daughter, who has a disability.
The system has three tiers depending on a person's judgment: guardianship (koken), curatorship (hosa) and assistance, the lightest. Under assistance, the person can choose which matters of money management and contracts to entrust to the assistant.
The man applied to the family court himself in 2018 to support his daughter's daily life, and began as her assistant. He stepped down in 2021 after his health declined and he began to worry about the future, and the court selected a social worker in his place.
When a professional takes on such a role, a fee can arise through an application to the family court. In 2022 the daughter was billed 450,000 yen, and the father and daughter paid it despite thinking it was high.
A year with no bill, then a bigger one
The social worker heard their reaction and did not apply to the court in 2023, so no fee was billed. In 2024, a bill for about 400,000 yen arrived. The social worker had applied, and the family court set the amount in a ruling (shinpan).
In 2025 the court ruled the fee should be 360,000 yen. The social worker then said 120,000 yen a year would be enough, wrote a memorandum himself and brought it to them, and the father and daughter agreed and paid.
This year the social worker reversed course, saying the memorandum should be withdrawn and the 360,000 yen paid as the court had ruled.
Asked why he raised a fee he had already lowered, the social worker agreed to be interviewed. His account has not yet been published.
The case is the 15th installment of an Asahi Shimbun series on adult guardianship.