Hello. This is Jaejae Law Firm.

Attorney Yoon Ji-sang, Managing Partner of Jaejae Law Firm has commented on major precedents related to divorce property division in Law Times, a leading legal publication.

A Notable Case — Are Infidelity and Property Division Really Separate?

In practice, there has long been a strong tendency to treat a spouse’s fault-based conduct and property division upon divorce as separate issues. The mainstream interpretation was that even if a spouse had an affair, it would not affect the property division ratio.

However, in a lower-court ruling that became final after the Supreme Court dismissed the case without full review, a holding stated that "an act by the party who committed the infidelity of disposing of property to that other party becomes a disadvantageous factor in calculating the property division ratio". This drew significant attention in the legal community. It was only natural that interest focused on how family law experts would evaluate and interpret it.

Analysis by Attorney Yoon Ji-sang, Managing Partner

In his case commentary, Attorney Yoon Ji-sang, Managing Partner, organized the following key issues.

He explained that a spouse’s infidelity may be considered as a liquidation-related factor when determining the property division ratio. However, the mere fact that a spouse committed infidelity does not automatically justify changing the property division ratio. According to the logic of the precedent, only where the spouse at fault provided the other party with financial benefits during the infidelity or consumed money together, thereby causing actual harm to the marital joint property, may this be reflected in the property division ratio upon divorce. Attorney Yoon Ji-sang, Managing Partner, stated that this reasoning is valid.

Changes This Case May Bring

This precedent is expected to have a positive impact on future divorce property division practice. It may serve as a benchmark for those wondering whether they should endure a marriage despite a spouse’s affair, or whether divorce would put them at a disadvantage in property division.

The key point of this case is that it is not the infidelity itself, but the fact that the marital joint property was materially reduced as a result of the infidelity, that is reflected in property division. This distinction is the core of the decision and provides a practical direction for what evidence lawyers should gather and what issues they should frame in similar future cases.

A Case Commentary by a Lawyer Who Knows How the Court Views the Case

Attorney Yoon Ji-sang, Managing Partner, has experience directly hearing numerous divorce and property division cases while serving as a chief judge at the Seoul Family Court and Daejeon Family Court. He is also a coauthor of the Supreme Court Court Administration Office’s Practice Manual for Inheritance Property Division and Forced Share Litigation and Annotated Civil Code: Inheritance Edition. His experience issuing decisions from the bench has been fully reflected in this case commentary as well.

The full case commentary has been published in Law Times.