A Case of Assistance by a Female Attorney | A Client Who Obtained a Decision Dismissing the Claim by Defending Against a Divorce Lawsuit

The client had been married to her husband for about 3 years and was leading an ordinary daily life.

However, as quarrels between the couple became frequent over the past several months, the husband began by throwing objects and raising his voice, and the client, too, was unable to suppress her emotions and ended up quarreling with him.

At the time, the husband took the children and left the home, and filed for divorce on the ground that the client had continually subjected him to verbal abuse and that his life had been difficult because of her morbid jealousy.

Accordingly, the client requested assistance from the female attorney, asserting that she wished to maintain the family.

In order to prove that the client did not suffer from morbid jealousy, the female attorney closely reviewed the fact that the husband had previously committed an affair, along with the related materials.

Thereafter, the attorney obtained the written judgment in which the spouse of the person with whom the husband had had an affair filed a lawsuit against the husband, and the husband partially lost.

On this basis, the attorney emphasized that the client had continued the marriage trusting her husband, and proved that the claim of morbid jealousy asserted by the husband's side was without basis.

The husband asserted that the client had continually committed verbal abuse, but this was no more than a one-sided statement without objective evidence.

The female attorney pointed out that the husband, when faced with the risk that his affair would come to light, had exaggerated the client's violent tendencies and proceeded with the divorce claim.

On this ground, the attorney emphasized that, under the ‘fault-based principle’ recognized in judicial divorce, the divorce claim must be dismissed because the husband bore the grounds of fault.

Despite the husband's clear fault, the client consistently did not want a divorce and hoped to restore the family.

The female attorney argued that the spouse had sought to unilaterally break off the marital relationship in order to avoid the discovery of his affair, and emphasized that the client had no intention of disputing the division of marital property and had no intention of divorcing.

In this case, the client was in a situation requiring a response to judicial divorce proceedings.

Judicial divorce refers to the procedure by which, when divorce by agreement is not possible, one of the spouses files a divorce lawsuit with the court and obtains a divorce through a judgment.

Under Article 840 of the “Civil Act,” the following grounds are required for a judicial divorce to be granted.

When a divorce lawsuit commences, the court designates a date for oral argument, and the parties to the lawsuit or their legal representatives appear in court, submit their respective arguments and related evidence, and make their statements.

In order to have the claim dismissed, it is necessary not merely to present arguments but to make specific preparations, as follows.