Married Man in De Facto Relationship Who Ran Away After Affair Was Discovered Says, "Let's Split the Property Since Apartment Prices Have Increased"

Caught Cheating, Assaulted Partner and Ran Away
Property Division Claim After 1 Year 8 Months
"Subject to Division If Common-Law Marriage Recognized"

Photo unrelated to the article. Source=Pixabay

A woman’s story has come to light in which her common-law husband cheated on her and then demanded a division of assets.

On the 15th, YTN Radio’s "Attorney Jo Inseop’s Counseling Center" introduced the case of A, whose ex-husband who cheated on her filed a lawsuit demanding asset division. According to the story, A lost her husband at a young age and was raising their child alone when she started attending a nearby church seeking support. There, she met a man in a similar situation, and they agreed to live together without registering their marriage. Thus, A lived with her partner in a common-law marriage for 10 years. During holidays, they each greeted their own parents, and when their parents passed away, they wore mourning clothes as daughter-in-law and son-in-law. At her husband’s son’s wedding, A even sat in the main seat of the hosts.

One day, while A was away on a business trip to Japan, her partner brought another woman into their home. When A confronted him about it, he became angry and physically assaulted her. After she told him she wanted to separate, she left the house. The husband even had his biological son, whom he was legally married to, remove all her belongings. Believing all ties were severed, about 1 year and 8 months later, the ex-husband filed a claim for asset division against A. A lamented, "I had much more assets than him, and the market price of my apartment in Seoul recently increased a lot. We never registered our marriage, so do I really have to divide assets?"

Attorney Jeong Doori explained, "If the common-law marriage between A and her ex-husband is recognized, a claim for asset division is possible. For a common-law marriage to be recognized, there must be mutual intent to marry, a shared marital life, and it must not be polygamous. In A’s case, although they did not have a wedding ceremony, their family activities could establish a common-law marriage." She added, "When a common-law marriage ends, asset division can be done without legal procedures, but the claim must be made within two years. The apartment owned by A is her separate property acquired before the relationship, so in principle it is not subject to division, but if the other party’s contribution is recognized, it could be included." Furthermore, she noted, "The date of dissolution of the common-law marriage is the basis for asset division, and unless there are special circumstances, changes in the apartment’s market price are also based on this date."