Category: Family Law

Dealing with a marriage, divorce, child custody, adoption, etc.

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Q) I’m a U.S. citizen married to a Korean woman having one child.  Currently, we live apart and our child’s living time is split between us. I wouldn’t mind this situation if I knew she could be trusted to care for him safely and properly. But she can’t do this. I’m incredibly worried about his present safety and his emotional development. We have the papers but she won’t sign them, she uses our marital situation to manipulate me. Is there any way I can file for divorce without her consent? If so, where can I do this? Also, what would I need to do to obtain sole parental authority after the divorce?

A) If she keeps refusing to sign the divorce agreement, you have no choice but to file a divorce lawsuit with a Korean court that has jurisdiction over the residence where she resides in order for the divorce to be finalized in Korea. Of course, (more…)

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Recently many foreigners asked me if it is true that Korean government banned adoptions by foreign adopters.  I think this rumor came out after the chief of Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs had said “it should be sough after revitalization of domestic adoption”.  The background of the chief’s comment was a recent homicide case where a U. S. adopters in Iowa killed 4 Korean adoptees.  The adoption agencies misunderstood it as Korean government would ban foreign adoption.  But constraining foreign adoptions and revitalizing domestic adoptions has been a long-time governmental policy ever since late 90’s-it is nothing new.

There has been no official changes on current regulations on foreign adoptions by Korean government.  Moreover, the private adoption, not an institutional adoption, is regulated by the Civil Act and it has nothing to do with (more…)

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According to the Korean Civil Act, a child shall succeed his or her mother’s family name, if the father is a foreigner.  By the way, the newly amended Korean Civil Act, which has become effective from January 1, 2008, allows changing family name into another one.  Article 781 (6) of the Act provides as follows:

Where there exists a need to alter the family name of a child for the welfare of the child, it may be changed with the approval thereof which the court grants upon a request of the father or mother or the child itself: Provided, That if the child is a minor and its agent by law may not make such a request, the request may be made by the relative provided for in article 777 or a public prosecutor.

Since the enforcement of the new Civil Act, I’m curious about whether Koren Court would permit the changing Korean family name into foreign family name such as “Smith” or “Brown” and so on.  This is an important legal issue considering many Korean kids are being adopted to foreign parents and many Korean females are being remarried to foreign males with her Korean child.

Finally, Seoul Family Court answered this question.  The court announced today that it had granted a Korean mother’s request to change her daughter’s family name from that of Korean biological father to her newly wedded Filipino husband’s family name.  It was reported that the court took great pains to (more…)

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[Updated: August 7, 2020]

Who Shall Have a Right of Property Division in Korea?

Korean divorce law allows a claim for the division of property. It is a statutory right of any party divorcing under Korean divorce law.  It means even a spouse who is responsible for the marriage breakdown has the right, too. Some people think a spouse at fault is not awarded this right, but that is not true.  There was a court case where even a spouse who cheated on the wife can claim for property division.

The division of property shall be determined by the parties’ agreement first.  If no agreement is made or if it is impossible to reach an agreement, the Family court shall, upon the petition by the party, determine the amount and method of division.

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Recently I got a question from a U.S. citizen living in the states. He has a Korean wife and a son. He’s currently living separately from the wife and son in Korea. The wife refuses his contact with the kid. He tries to get the custody but is not sure about filing a divorce law suit right away.

A child custody has two meanings in Korea.  One is a right to make decisions for the child (so-called parental authority) and the other is right to foster the child.

Getting divorced is not necessarily required to have the “right to foster” under Korean law. He can request the Korean Family Court to designate him as the sole child fosterer, maintaining his marriage.  The court will consider certain factors such as child’s age, past and current life style, occupation and standard of living of both parties and so on in deciding who is going to be a right fosterer in terms of the child’s welfare.

Regarding the expense of bringing up a child, if he is designated as a sole fosterer, the wife shall pay the certain proportion of total expenses of bringing up a child.

In a case where he fails to be designated as a sole fosterer by the court, he shall be entitled to have a visitation right according to Korean law. He can request the court to prevent his wife from interrupting his regular visitation to his (more…)

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Previously I had a chance to write a post about a divorce issue when a husband did an act of unchastity.  By the way, what if he did commit an adultery?  It surely not only constitutes a legal ground for divorce in favor of the wife, but also the wife can accuse the husband of adultery to the police.  That is because, according to the Korean Criminal Law, unlikely with the U.S. law, (more…)

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Recently we got a question about whether the Korean court permits a divorce filing even when both parties are foreign nationals. The questioner was in a situation where she lived in Korea but the spouse did not. Here is a short and general answer.

In principle, the Korean court accepts international divorce filing only when the defendant has a residence in Korea, even though there could be some excepts to this rule of thumb. The Supreme Court of South Korea, however, held that as an exception to this general rule the court should accept the divorce filing when (i) the plaintiff fails to locate the defendant or (ii) the defendant who has no residence in Korea answers the lawsuit filed in a Korean court.

Thus, if you do not know where the spouse currently lives but still need to get divorced, you can file a divorce lawsuit to a Korean family court. This is quite helpful to the foreign people who had been married to Korean persons but moved back to their home countries with the marriage not working well. Or a foreign person living in Korea whose spouse, who is also a foreigner, left Korea permanently can benefit from this judicial policy of Korean family court. In this regard, our office had represented a Canadian male and successfully got a divorce decree from

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We’ve published a new article on a private adoption under the most recently amended Korean law.  Please check here.

[Disclaimer: Please note that recently there has been an amendment of the laws and regulations regarding the adoption in Korea. The amended laws will be effective soon. That said, the below article has not yet been updated pursuant to the new laws. Therefore, anyone who plans a private adoption in Korea is highly recommended to contact lawyers in advance with respect to the new laws and regulations. 2012/03/22]

Recently our office took an international adoption case in which U.S. parents living in the states want to adopt Korean kids here in South Korea. That was a private adoption case. After completing the adoption successfully, I wrote a short article on private adoption under Korean law to be published in a foreign magazine. I hope this to be of help to anyone interested in Korean adoption.

[Comments in Korean: 아래 글은 외국인이 한국에 거주하는 한국 아동을 입양하는 것에 관한 글입니다. 주지하다시피 우리나라 법상 입양은 원칙적으로 민법에 의하는 것으로 되어 있고, 예외적으로 시설(고아원 등)에서 보호되고 있는 아동(요보호아동)의 입양에 대하여는 “입양촉진및절차에관한특례법”이 적용되고 있습니다. 아래 글은 이 중 민법에 의한 입양(즉, 사적입양. 특례법에 다른 요보호아동의 입양은 ‘시설입양’이라고 하겠음)에 대한 것입니다. 민법은 양부모의 요건을 “한국인”으로 한정하고 있지 않고, 외국인에게도 동일하게 적용됩니다. 즉, 요보호아동이 아니라면 민법에 의한 해외 입양이 가능하다는 것이지요. 아래 글은 저희 사무소에서 한국인 부모가 사적입양방식으로 아이를 미국으로 입양시킨 사례에 바탕을 두었습니다. 아무쪼록 아래 글이 해외입양을 생각하는 아이 엄마, 아빠들과 입양을 간절히 원하는 외국인 부모들에게 유익한 정보가 되기를 기원해 봅니다(2008년 2월)] 

Private Adoption under Korean Law: Overview

There are two kinds of adoptions available under Korean law: an orphanage adoption (or institutional adoption) and a private adoption. The orphanage adoption process is better known to many foreign citizens who want to adopt Korean children. It is literally adopting an orphan accommodated in public assistance facilities or any authorized adoption organization. The Act on Special Cases Concerning the Promotion and Procedures of Adoption (the “ASCCPPA”) regulates the orphanage adoption in Korea. The ASCCPPA, however, requires some strict criteria for being adoptive parents, and this often hinders many foreigners from adopting Korean children. In such a case, the private adoption should seriously be considered. The private adoption is basically adopting non-orphan child in Korea under the Civil Act of Korea. In this article, authors will briefly discuss the private adoption procedure and requirements under the Civil Act of Korea. It should be noted that this article will not discuss with the further U.S. immigration requirements that must be undertaken to obtain relevant visa for the adopted child.

Under the Civil Act, any person can adopt a child by: (a) entering into an adoption agreement with the child and his parents; and (b) reporting the adoption to the relevant public office. If the child to be adopted is under fifteen years of age, his or her parents must assent to the adoption on his or her behalf.

This same requirement applies to any foreigner who wants to adopt a Korean child regardless of his or her nationality and whether he or she is living in Korea. Furthermore, the eligibility requirements under the Civil Act are less strict than those of orphanage adoption. The adoptive person is just required to be over 20 years of age and older than the child to be adopted. Also, single mother or father can adopt a child. (more…)