When married couples get divorced, how do they decide who gets to keep what and what about the apartment that they bought together? And before the property division process, what can we do to dig up assets and disclose the whole property that needs to be divided during the divorce process?
First of all, there is a process called 'property statement’. This is regulated under the Family litigation act and it indicates that “Any family court may, when deeming specifically required for cases claiming division of property, support allowances and child support for minor children, order the relevant party to submit a property list stating his/her property status either ex officio or upon request by the relevant party”. In actual cases, a case must be pending at the family court and you must provide sufficient evidence that the relevant party is not cooperating and there is no way to know the current property status. If the application for a property statement is accepted by the court, the relevant party must submit a list of current assets under his/her name and also a list of assets that he/she sold in the last few years. If the relevant party does not follow the court’s orders, than they will be imposed with a fine up to 10,000,000 KRW, so you can expect to receive a pretty accurate list of assets through this process.
Second, if your spouse refuses to disclose his/her property through the process mentioned above or if you think there are more assets that need to be dug up, you can make an inquiry through the court to banks or organizations regarding your spouse’s assets. Specifically, you can go through your spouse’s bank deposit by sending an official inquiry to major banks, and if you know which bank your spouse uses, you can apply for an official inquiry to the court and specify which bank the court should send the inquiry to. Also, if you wish to find out if there is any real estate under your spouse’s name, you can make an official inquiry to the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
For more information contact Bom Lee at 2bom@kakao.com