我國兩願離婚要件之改善建議──以未成年子女之保障為中心

Recommendations for Improving the Consent Divorce Law in Taiwan: Focusing on the Protection of a Minor Child

我國兩願離婚（又稱協議離婚）為全部離婚類型之大宗，其中育有未成年子女，而須討論未成年子女親權問題之父母，亦不在少數。然而，我國民法中協議離婚之要件過於簡單，夫妻離婚時，得完全不約定離婚後與未成年子女有關之法律效果，也未設有促使父母重視協議離婚過程中，可能對未成年子女產生之負面影響之規範。而近年來，學術界與實務界對此議題，僅聚焦在裁判或其前置之調解離婚時，應如何保障未成年子女之利益，協議離婚是否亦有相同需求，缺乏完整且詳細之研討。著眼於此問題意識，本論文透過整理我國學術與實務見解，並參考比較法，嘗試提出個人淺見。
本論文首先介紹我國協議離婚制度之沿革，再整理學者與實務工作者指出之問題點及改善建議，得出學界與實務界具有協議離婚制度應朝「確保當事人之離婚真意」及「保障弱勢配偶或未成年子女之利益」之共識，並提出得「強化協議離婚之要件」，協助當事人於協議離婚時，「獲取必要心理、社福或法律等資訊」之建議。而裁判離婚及其前置之調解程序進行時，由法院或家事服務中心舉辦「親職教育」，協助父母學習保護未成年子女免於因父母離婚受到傷害，並了解離婚後持續擔任合作父母之重要性。自本論文歸納學者、實務工作者與立法者之建議，可知各界期望親職教育宜提升其地位至法律位階，但是否應一律改為強制性、不接受者是否得處以罰鍰，則有不同之想法。
比較法之借鏡對象為與我國離婚法制度相似之韓國及日本法。韓國於西元2007年修法，要求育有未成年子女之夫妻，聲請法院確認協議離婚之意思後，於三個月內之熟慮期間內，須義務性地接受離婚說明，並要求父母提出親權、會面交往與扶養費等內容之子女事項協議經法院審查，法院亦得為離婚諮詢勸告。而日本則有明石市等地方政府，與民間機關合作，建立提供人民離婚前、中、後心理、社福與法律等資源之綜合支援網絡，與人民一同守護未成年子女的成長，不因父母離婚而有所影響。
最後，基於上述觀察，本文建議改善我國協議離婚制度之方法，為在民法中增訂協議離婚要件，要求育有未成年子女之夫妻，須接受親職教育，於三個月內完成子女事項（包含親權、會面交往與扶養費給付等）協議，方可至戶政機關登記離婚，以保障未成年子女之利益。其中親職教育之實施，本論文建議宜由家事服務中心負責，但須針對協議離婚之特性，設計適合之課程內容，並與裁判及其前置之調解離婚分開實施。

Consent divorce (also known as divorce agreement) is the majority of all divorce types in Taiwan, and there are many parents who have minor child and need to discuss child custody issue. However, the requirements of divorce agreement in the Civil Code are too simple. Couples may not agree on the legal effects of the divorce in relation to their minor child when they divorce. In addition, there is no regulation to encourage parents to pay attention to the possible negative effects on minor child in the process of divorce agreement. In recent years, most of scholars and practitioners only focus on how to protect the interests of minor child in judicial divorce and divorce mediation, and whether divorce agreement has the same needs, without a complete and detailed study. In view of this, this paper attempts to provide some individual opinions through Taiwan’s practice and theoretical opinions and comparative legal research.
This paper first introduces the history of divorce agreement, and then collates problems and suggestions for improvement pointed out by scholars and practitioners, concluding that scholars and practitioners have a consensus that the divorce agreement law should move toward “ensuring the true intent of couple” and “protecting the interests of disadvantaged spouses or minor child”. They also propose to “strengthen the requirements of divorce agreement” and to assist couples in “obtaining necessary psychological, social, and legal information” during divorce. Secondly, this paper explains “parental education” held by the court or Family Events Service Center during judicial divorce and divorce mediation process, which helps parents learn how to protect their minor child from harm caused by his or her parents’ divorce and understand the importance of continuing to be friendly and collaborative parents after the divorce.
From the scholars, practitioners and legislators’ suggestions summarized in this paper, it can be seen that parental education should be properly alleviated in legislation, but there are different opinions on whether to change it to mandatory and those who do not
accept it should be punished with fines.
Moreover, this paper conducts a comparative legal analysis with the law of Korea and Japan, which are similar to the law of Taiwan. In Korea, Civil Law was amended in 2007, couples with minor child have to deliberate about whether they really want to divorce for 3 months before they receive confirmation for divorce from the family court.
In the consideration period, couples should receive divorce guidance and submit an agreement on child matters such as child custody, visitation and child support payment to the court for review. The family courts can also provide counseling recommendations.
In Japan, some local governments, such as AKASHI City, cooperate with Non-Governmental Organizations, establishing a comprehensive support network to supply citizen with psychological, social welfare, and legal resources before, during, and after divorce process. Those local governments work with people to protect the growth of their minor child from the effects of his or her parents’ divorce.
Last but not least, this paper makes several suggestions in order to improve divorce agreement law. It is recommended to add the requirements of divorce agreement in the Civil Code, demanding that couples with minor child receive parental education and complete an agreement on child matters (including child custody, visitation and child support payment) within three months before fulfilling divorce registration, in order to protect the interests of minor child. This paper suggests that Family Events Service Center should be responsible for the implementation of parenting education, but it should be designed to meet the characteristics of divorce agreement and be implemented separately from judicial divorce and divorce mediation.