1. The Client's Crisis

During 25 years of married life, the client started a small business with the spouse, grew the business, raised two children, and maintained the household. However, in the first trial of the divorce case, the court ruled a property division ratio of 50% (5:5). The trial court evaluated the husband's economic activities and the wife's support as equal, but the client felt that their direct participation in the business from the early stages and their contributions were not sufficiently reflected, and came to Law Firm Exist seeking support for the appeal.

2. Key Issues

The difficulties in this case could be broadly divided into three points. First, in an appeal, overturning the property division ratio from the first-instance judgment is extremely difficult in practice. This is because if no new evidence or specific error in the first-instance ruling is presented, the original judgment is likely to be upheld. Second, in the first trial, the scope of information supporting the client's contribution was not sufficiently identified, and cross-examination of the opposing party's claims was not properly conducted. Third, it was necessary to reconstruct the client's contributions to the growth of the business into concrete figures and materials that the court could recognize.

3. Exist's Strategy

Attorney Yoon Ji-sang, CEO of the firm and a former chief judge of the Family Court, thoroughly reanalyzed the first-instance judgment and the litigation record, identified the deficiencies in the first trial, and redesigned the rebuttal structure by issue. We documented and quantified the client's business-related documents, participation in business expansion planning, role in major contract execution, and contributions to financial management in detail. We also organized and submitted the client's contributions to child-rearing and maintaining family life, including family events. These were critical materials that had not been submitted in the first trial. In particular, based on his experience as a chief judge, he carefully designed the scope and logic by which the appellate court could change the outcome, and that drafting of the written brief became the core of the strategy in this case.

4. Result and Recovery

The appellate court re-evaluated the client's contribution to the formation of the marital assets and increased the property division ratio from the original 50% to 70%. This was a 20 percentage point increase from the first trial. The client was recognized for their rightful contributions to the business and the family, regained financial stability, and was able to prepare for a new beginning.

Attorney in charge: Yoon Ji-sang, CEO attorney (former chief judge of the Family Court, extensive experience handling family law and inheritance property division cases)

This case has been partially de-identified to protect confidentiality, within a scope that does not compromise the essence of the matter.