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Guide

When managing money and contracts becomes difficult

Two schemes cover this. Daily-living support costs 2,500 yen a month and the ward Anshin Centre does the work, but it can only be used while the person can still sign a contract. After that comes adult guardianship. There is an order to it, and no way back.

These two are not alternatives; they come in order. The daily-living support scheme can only be used while the person can still enter into a contract. Once that point passes, what remains is adult guardianship.

The difference

Daily-living supportAdult guardianship
When it can be usedWhile the person can contractAfter capacity has declined
How it startsThe person applies, and signs a contractAn application to the family court
Can it be stoppedYes — it is a contractAs a rule it continues
What it coversEveryday money, payments, safekeeping of documentsProperty, and cancelling contracts — far broader
Where to askThe ward Anshin CentreThe city's central body, and the family court

Guardianship has three levels depending on capacity, and there is also a voluntary form arranged in advance, while the person is still well.

Daily-living support (Kawasaki)

Staff from the ward Anshin Centre (the ward council of social welfare) visit and, under a contract, help with everyday money.

Three conditions, all of which must be met

  1. Living in the city, and either an older person with dementia, a person with a physical, intellectual or mental disability, or broadly aged 65 or over and in need of help with daily life
  2. Finding it difficult to make payments or keep important documents safe
  3. Able to decide, of their own will, to apply

The third is the one that matters. This is a contract, so it needs the capacity to make one. Where that capacity is no longer there, the route is adult guardianship instead.

What they do

  • Information and advice on welfare services, help applying, and paying the charges
  • Withdrawing money for living expenses
  • Paying rent, utilities and medical bills
  • Paperwork needed to receive a pension

Cost

ServiceCost
Welfare service support and everyday money management2,500 yen a month (including a 500 yen base charge)
Safekeeping of documents (total face value under 10 million yen)3,000 yen a year
Safekeeping of documents (10 million yen or more)6,000 yen a year

Safekeeping covers passbooks, certificates (insurance policies, pension books, property deeds), securities and seals, held in a bank vault. Cash, valuables and investment are outside it.

People receiving public assistance are not eligible (since FY2021) and should speak to their caseworker instead.

Adult guardianship

A scheme that protects the property and rights of someone whose capacity to judge has become insufficient through dementia, intellectual disability or mental illness. The application goes to the family court.

In Kawasaki the city council of social welfare hosts the Adult Guardianship Support Centre, the central body for the scheme. Questions about the procedure or about guardians can also be taken to your ward's Anshin Centre.

Costs (the application, and any remuneration for the guardian) and the documents required should be confirmed with the family court and the support centre. No figures are given here, because they vary case by case.

Moving earlier leaves more options open

Daily-living support exists only while the person can decide for themselves that they want it. Past that point, what is left is an application to the family court.

The stage that feels like "not yet" is the stage with the most choices in it. A community support centre, or the ward Anshin Centre, will talk it through at no charge.

This page sets out the outline of the schemes. Whether they apply in a particular case, and what they cost, should be confirmed with the Anshin Centre or the family court. Nothing here is legal advice. Counter staff answer in Japanese.

Find your support centre Official page (Japanese)

Source: Kawasaki City · Last verified 2026-09-13. Rules change. Check the source page before you act on this. This is a plain-English summary of public information, not an official translation.

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