OSAKA -- A high court rejected Thursday an appeal by a man who sought confirmation that he had no legal paternal relationship with a child borne by his former wife, as she used their frozen fertilized eggs without his consent.
The Osaka High Court upheld a lower court's rejection of the man's claim.
The plaintiff is a foreign national in his 40s living in Nara Prefecture.
In December, the Nara Family Court ruled against the man's claim, but said that to recognize a legal paternal relationship with a child born via in vitro fertilization, it is necessary to have the husband's consent when fertilized eggs are used.
In Thursday's ruling at the Osaka High Court, however, presiding Judge Toshiko Eguchi did not refer to this criterion, saying it is unnecessary to make a judgment on that point.
The judge then said the case should be decided on whether a Civil Code stipulation that a child conceived by a wife during marriage shall be presumed to be the child of her husband is applicable.
On that basis, the judge ruled that the man's claim seeking confirmation that he had no legal paternal relationship should be rejected.
The plaintiff plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.
According to the ruling, the man married the Japanese woman in 2004. They cryopreserved their fertilized eggs at a medical institution in Nara in 2010, but when their relationship later turned sour, the couple separated. The woman used a frozen egg and had it implanted without obtaining the man's consent. She gave birth to a girl in 2015. The couple divorced in 2016.
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