Tag: Korean Family Lawyer

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(Last update on November 1, 2022) Under the Korean inheritance law, the inheritance comes to fruition immediately when a person is deceased. The Korean inheritance law, the Part V of the Civil Act, provides who shall become the inheritor and beneficiary of the property of a deceased person, i.e. estate.

The inheritor and beneficiary, however, shall not always take everything from the estate. There are separate rules and restrictions on the distribution of the estate in South Korea.

In this article, we will explain to you the basic rules and practices of inheritance in Korea.

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“I am an adoptee from South Korea to the U.S. Currently I live in the U.S.  Recently I found my biological parents died in South Korea.  He is survived by his wife and 2 sons.  He had businesses in Korea.  Can an adopted child inherit from biological parents in Korea?  I have never met or spoken to his wife and sons and so I don’t know if he had a will written.  What are my inheritance rights under Korean law?”

Everything Boils Down to Whether it is Full Adoption or Simple Adoption

A legal child is entitled to inheritance from his/her deceased parent. When the child is adopted, some jurisdictions treat the adoption as disconnecting the legal relationship with the biological parent, and some jurisdictions don’t. We call the former as a full adoption and the latter as a simple adoption.

As you can understand from the general idea of inheritance, an adopted child can inherit from biological parents in Korea only when the adoption is regarded as (more…)

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1Recently our office represented U.S. parents whose adoption application had been denied by the Korean court.  The adoption was processed as an institutional adoption which is regulated by the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Promotion and Procedure of Adoption.  Institutional adoption, often called an orphanage adoption, is under more strict regulation and qualifications than a private adoption.  In this case, the 1st instance court of Seoul Family Court denied the U.S. parents’ adoption petition due to the concern caused by the adoptive parent’s past medical history of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Our office took this case at the appellate court level.  We reviewed the entire record and documents from the beginning and found that the lower court’s finding and the conclusion were not based on the true facts, but on the vague concern.  We even found a critical error in the translation of the ODC evaluation report provided by the Korean adoption agency.

We argued in front of the appellate judges that U.S. medical professionals had stated that the petitioner’s OCD did not harm his suitability as an adoptive parent.   He also pointed out that the U.S. government had (more…)

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Divorce could be one of the hardest decisions that people make during their entire life.  If people decide to divorce, one question they might ask their Korean divorce lawyer is how long it will take to get the divorce decree from the Korean Family Court. Fast divorce in Korea is what you might aim for, once you decided to divorce.

The short answer to this question is that it depends, the magic phrase that the lawyers would love to use in almost every dialogue.  The thing is, however, that it really depends on various factors, especially what types of divorce they are going through.  It could be a contested divorce or an uncontested divorce, which requires a totally different approach and care.

If it is an uncontested divorce which means the parties have been able to agree about all the issues involved in a divorce such as custody, child support, visitation, property division, and consolation money, the divorce decree can be obtained within 1 to 2 months.  That is pretty fast compared to other countries.  The parties don’t need to appear at the court so long as a Korean divorce attorney takes care of the case.  That is how our office in Seoul has been handling uncontested divorce cases.

If the divorce is contested, it requires more time for the Korean Family Court to render a divorce decree.  It should go through several hearings and extensive arguments between the parties. (more…)

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Unlike situations in some states in the U.S., a prenuptial agreement is somewhat in a grey area in the Korean legal system.

When the case later goes into a divorce by agreement, the prenup will be fully honored by the court.  It is legal and enforceable in Korea.

When the case, however, goes to a judicial divorce or a contested divorce, the Korean court applies a more strict standard in honoring the validity and application scope of the prenuptial agreement, which in many cases results in nullifying the prenuptial agreement.

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Question) I am a US citizen and have been living with my Korean boyfriend for about 3 years in South Korea.  We loved each other and agreed to marry, but we were so busy having the legal process timely done, and most importantly we found no need to do that.  We’ve just thought each other as husband and wife and so do our friends and families. While living together, he ran an Internet business and made quite large profits from there.  I took care of every housework and sometimes I helped his business work, too. But, recently I found he had cheated on me. I was so shocked and got separated from him.  My concern is whether I have any right to the assets accumulated during our cohabitation, like a property division right between divorcing couple.

Answer) Under Korean law, in order to establish the marital relationship, the parties must report their marriage to the government.  Just having a wedding ceremony and/or living together as a husband and a wife is not enough for the establishment of legal marriage.

What Is the Common-Law Marriage in Korea?

If the parties live together without the marriage report and consider themselves each other’s spouse, it is called a common-law marriage or a de facto marriage. The Korean law recognizes the common-law marriage.

When can a common-law marriage be legally established under Korean law?  The court’s recognition of common-law marriage is subject to the finding of both (i) mutual intent to form a marital relationship, and (ii) the existence of substance of marital life.  For this purpose, the court looks into various facts such as the duration of cohabitation, the existence of a marriage ceremony, relationship with other family members, etc.

What Rights Do I Have under Common-Law Marriage in Korea?

Common-law marriage is not a legal marriage.  Thus it is not entitled to the same level of legal protection as the legal marriage.  But, when it comes to the dissolution of the common law marriage relationship, Korean law applies almost identical protection to the parties.

Right of Property Division

First, the Korean law grants the right of property division to each party of the common law marriage.  Each party is entitled to some share of the assets acquired during the relationship according to his or her contribution.  Even if a party who is solely responsible for the relationship breakdown can still claim for the division of the property.

RIght of Consolation Money

Second, a party can seek consolation money against the other party, if the other party is solely responsible for the relationship breakdown.  The amount the party can seek is decided by various (more…)

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It is first noted that the basic law in Korea regulating labor standards is the Labor Standards Act (“LSA”), ”), which is applicable to the employers with at least 5 employees.  As for the employers with less than 5 employees, only a part of LSA provisions would be applicable.  And, LSA provisions relating to our comments below are not applicable to these employers with less than 5 employees.  The only statutory restriction for a employer with less than 5 employees is the prohibition of dismissal during a particular period of time such as employee’s illness and childbirth.  That said,  please bear in mind that our comments below are only provided for employers and employees at a workplace with at least 5 employees.

Article 23 of LSA requires a “justifiable cause” if and when an employer takes disciplinary actions, including termination of employment, with regard to its employees.  Korean courts have held that a “justifiable cause” refers to such causes as criminal offence, serious illegal acts, and gross negligent acts, etc. which would make maintaining of the relevant employment relationships no longer possible under generally accepted public notions.

Especially, because a termination of employment is the most extreme measure, taking away an employee’s means of making a living, Korean courts are known to be very strict in applying the above-noted criteria, when it determines whether a particular termination is justified.  Thus, (more…)

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(Question) I have a question regarding my current situation with my ex-husband. He is a Korean national and working there in South Korea.  I lived there until 2014 when I came back to Washington and filed a divorce complaint here. Since then he has refused to speak with me.  This year my US lawyer duly served him with the paper but he just kept ignoring it.  At any rate, I got a divorce decree and child support ruling for my baby this April.  Now I am wondering how I can enforce my US ruling in Korea, knowing that he is living a  luxurious life and feels that he can just ignore his child and the responsibilities that come with it.

(Answer) I have to say that there is something unclear in this case.  If the court proceedings in Washington(WA) court have been duly made, i.e. (i) the WA court had proper jurisdiction and (ii) he was duly served, you can apply for its execution in Korea. Otherwise, you may initiate the whole process de nuvo in Korea.  The second threshold seems to have been met here. Thus, the real issue here rather is the first one.

Please note that the jurisdiction must be acknowledged in the view of Korean law, not the WA law. Thus, even though the WA ruling says the WA court has proper jurisdiction, the Korean court will (more…)

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On May 30, 2014, the Seoul Family Court handed down a ground-breaking decision which recognized the paternity between a Korean male and his children born out of lawful wedlock in the Philippines.  The decision marked the first time ever that a Korean Family Court adjudicated on the parentage of so-called “Kopino”, the term for those children born between a Filipina mother and a Korean father out of marriage.

The sociocultural issue surrounding the Kopino has been the criticism that the Korean fathers have abandoned Kopinos by leaving Philippines and providing no supports.  In this court case, the story was quite typical.  The Korean father met a Philippine woman back in 1997, when he was running a toy manufacturing business in Philippines.  In 1998 and 2000, they had 2 children.  But he couldn’t marry her, because he was already married to another woman in South Korea.  On April 14, 2004, he suddenly left Philippines alone and never contacted his children again.  He had never paid any support for his children.

In December 2012, frustrated by the irresponsibility of the Korean father, the children’s mother in Philippines had moved to bring a legal action in Seoul Family Court against the Korean father to establish the paternity of her children.  After 15-month litigation, the DNA test confirmed the blood ties between (more…)

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On December 13, 2012, South Korea acceded to the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“Hague Child Abduction Convention”), whereby South Korea became the 89th contracting nation to the convention.

Concluded in October 1980, the Hague Child Abduction Convention is a multilateral treaty aiming at the prompt return of wrongfully removed or retained child from one contracting nation to another.  Under the Convention, any person or institution claiming that a child has been removed or retained in breach of custody rights may apply to any other contracting nation for assistance in securing the return of the child.

As with the Convention entering into force on March 1, 2013, South Korea enacted subsequent domestic legislation concerning the implementation of the Convention.  Under the new legislation, the foreign spouse who is the citizen of the contracting nation of the Convention can make an application to the Minister of Justice of South Korea for the assistance of the return of a child wrongfully abducted to South Korea.  The case asserting the return of the child pursuant to the Convention is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Seoul Family Court.  The court may issue a preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo.  Also, the court may dismiss the application for the return of the child when, among others, it has passed 1 or more years since the abduction and the child has already adjusted herself into the current environment.  The person who (more…)