CONTENTS
- 1. Child Support Litigation, What Were the Detailed Circumstances?
- - Child Support Litigation, What Are the Relevant Statutes?
- 2. Child Support Litigation, What Was the Court's Determination?
- 3. Child Support Litigation, What Was Daeryun's Strategy?
1. Child Support Litigation, What Were the Detailed Circumstances?
The plaintiff in this child support litigation was in a remarriage relationship with the defendant.
The defendant had adopted A, who was born between the plaintiff and the plaintiff's former spouse, through full adoption (chinyangja), and two biological children were subsequently born.
However, as the marital relationship between the two deteriorated due to differences in personality and other factors, an incident occurred in which the defendant inflicted bodily injury on A, including a nasal bone fracture requiring approximately five weeks of treatment.
In response, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the defendant seeking divorce, division of marital property, and child support, while the defendant sought dissolution of the full adoption with respect to A.
In this case, whether the defendant bore an obligation to pay child support for A became the principal issue.
Child Support Litigation, What Are the Relevant Statutes?
🔗Child support litigation proceeds when the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent fail to reach an agreement on the matter of child support payments.
The procedure is as follows.
① Submission of the complaint for the child support claim to the competent family court |
② An order from the court directing the non-custodial parent to submit a list of assets |
③ Where submission of the asset list is delayed, or where the asset list submitted is insufficient, an application to inquire into the non-custodial parent's assets may be made to financial institutions and others |
④ Where the court pronounces a judgment ordering payment of child support, child support may be received. If child support is not received after the judgment ordering payment, compulsory execution may be carried out on the basis of the judgment |
🔗The child support calculator, in accordance with the Seoul Family Court's child support calculation standards, calculates the expected child support upon divorce by taking into account the number and ages of the children for the purpose of determining child support upon divorce.
▣ Article 908-5 of the Civil Act (Dissolution of Full Adoption)
① An adoptive parent, the fully adopted child, the biological father or mother, or a prosecutor may petition the family court for dissolution of the full adoption where any of the following grounds exists.
1. Where an adoptive parent has abused or abandoned the fully adopted child or has otherwise significantly harmed the welfare of the fully adopted child
2. Where, due to the fully adopted child's outrageous conduct against the adoptive parent, the full adoptive relationship can no longer be maintained
2. Child Support Litigation, What Was the Court's Determination?
The court of first instance granted the divorce claim, granted the claims for consolation money and division of marital property in part, and designated the plaintiff as the holder of parental authority and the custodian of the children.
In addition, it ruled that the plaintiff would bear the child support for A, and that the defendant would pay child support only for the other children.
The plaintiff appealed, and the High Court, which heard the second instance, held that the defendant must also pay child support for A, the fully adopted child.
The court reasoned that, even if the relationship with A had broken down, because a judgment dissolving the defendant's full adoption of A had not yet been rendered, the legal effect of the full adoptive relationship continued to subsist unless dissolution of the full adoption was recognized through a family court judgment pursuant to Article 908-5 of the Civil Act. Accordingly, it determined that the legal effects arising from the full adoption must continue to apply.
Beyond this, considering that in this case the defendant had inflicted bodily injury on A, the court held that exempting the defendant from the obligation to pay child support for A would not accord with the welfare of A, who is a minor and a victim.
The court added that, if dissolution of the adoption is later pronounced and that judgment becomes final, the defendant may be relieved of the obligation to pay child support through a separate petition to modify child support on the ground of the termination of the full adoptive relationship.
3. Child Support Litigation, What Was Daeryun's Strategy?
In connection with child support litigation, we have analyzed a High Court judgment holding that, where a parent inflicted bodily injury on the child during the marriage, child support must be paid even if dissolution of adoption is sought.
Child support litigation is a field that is particularly intricate even among divorce cases and in which the amount to be recognized can be difficult to predict. For this reason, professional assistance can be helpful.
The 🔗Divorce Litigation Group of Daeryun Law Firm LLP, comprising attorneys with extensive experience in child support litigation, actively assists clients with the difficulties they face.
If you need assistance with a related matter, you are welcome to visit Daeryun Law Firm LLP at any time.
