Annulment of Marriage Lawsuit | Annulment of Marriage Lawsuit Due to Non-paternity and Partial Granting of Consolation Money

This is the account of a client who needed the assistance of a divorce attorney to file a marriage annulment lawsuit.

The client met a woman through an online game and continued a relationship with her, during which the other party informed him that she was pregnant and demanded marriage.

Believing that the child was his own biological child, the client decided to marry, completed the marriage registration, and began living together as a formally married couple.

However, not long after the marriage, the client discovered indications on his wife's mobile phone that she had maintained an inappropriate relationship with another man before the marriage.

Sensing that something was wrong, the client arranged a paternity test through a professional agency, and the result showed a mismatch indicating that the child was not his biological child.

Accordingly, the client concluded that his wife had intentionally induced the marriage by using the fact of her pregnancy, and he filed a marriage annulment lawsuit on the ground of a marriage induced by fraud under the Civil Act (Article 816, Subparagraph 3 of the Civil Act).

A marriage annulment lawsuit refers to a procedure that extinguishes, prospectively, the effect of a marriage that fails to meet the legal requirements or that contains a serious defect such as fraud or duress.

Article 816 of the Civil Act provides that a claim for annulment of marriage may be filed with the court in the following cases.

The client entrusted the case while in a state of severe psychological shock, and the attorney in charge designed a litigation strategy combining the claim for annulment of marriage with a claim for consolation money.

· Filing of the complaint for annulment of marriage and consolation money
The divorce attorney, on the basis of Article 816, Subparagraph 3 of the Civil Act, filed a claim seeking a judgment of annulment of marriage together with payment of 30 million won in consolation money, to the effect that “a marriage may be annulled where the intention to marry was formed through fraud.”

· Securing evidence of paternity mismatch and submitting it to the court
To prove that the child was not the biological child, the divorce attorney submitted a genetic appraisal report (test result certificate) as evidence and logically explained that the result was directly connected to the act of deception at the time of the marriage.

· Constructing the logic to prove a marriage induced by fraud
The divorce attorney emphasized that, although the wife had engaged in infidelity with multiple men around the estimated time of conception, she concealed that fact and deceived the client into entering the marriage.

This was assessed as an act of deception that induced a serious mistake regarding the marriage, and it was argued that it constituted the ground of a marriage induced by fraud under Article 816, Subparagraph 3 of the Civil Act.

· Submission of materials proving infidelity
Digital evidence, including the content of KakaoTalk conversations the wife exchanged with multiple men, message screenshots, and call records, was submitted together with the forensic analysis results, objectively proving the infidelity.

· Claim for compensation for mental suffering
The divorce attorney emphasized that the mental suffering the client experienced as a result of the wife's conduct was considerable and claimed 30 million won in consolation money.