ENGLISH

- If you are seeking a divorce, you can first seek a consultation with an expert institution such as the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations (http://lawhome.or.kr), Korea Women’s Hot-Line (http://www.hotline.or.kr), the Korea Family Legal Service Center (http://lawqa.jinbo.net/), or with a lawyer who is an expert in the legal area, etc. A consultation may help you amicably resolve marital conflict, and if you are resolved to divorce, you can obtain advice on the means of divorce, procedures, postdivorce issues, etc.

- There are two routes to divorce: Divorce by agreement and judicial divorce. If the spouses agree on divorce, you can consider divorce by agreement and judicial divorce if not. When divorcing by agreement, there is room to decide by agreement between spouses on the various issues that arise from divorce such as property and children. Meanwhile, when the divorce is contested in court, these issues often have to be resolved by trial. Therefore, when seeking a judicial divorce, it is advantageous to prepare the following matters in advance.

- Judicial divorce, that is, divorce litigation, is an action seeking divorce where the marriage broke down for cause attributable to a spouse or a spouse’s lineal ascendant. Therefore, it is a good idea to write a summary in order of time, before bringing action, of the circumstances that arose during the marriage. A summary of facts is also helpful in proving whether a spouse’s action constitutes a ground for judicial divorce provided for in the Civil Act.

- Once an action for divorce is brought, the court will make a judgment based on the parties’ statements and evidence. Evidence is also necessary to apply for advance or preservation measures on the other party’s property, etc. This makes it a good idea to gather relevant evidence in advance, for example, medical certificates, photographs of unchaste activities, lease agreements, and IOUs.

- Property amassed jointly during marriage is subject to division on divorce. However, if the property is in the name of one spouse and not in the spouses’ joint names, the other party may unilaterally dispose of the property to avoid property division or decrease the property subject to division. Therefore, you should be aware of the exact status of the assets (types and prices of real estate, insurance payments. bank account situation, etc.) and might consider preservative measures on the property by applying to court for provisional attachment (real estate, bank deposit receivables, stock, etc.) or provisional measures (forbidding the disposition of real estate, forbidding the transfer of real estate possession, etc.) on the property in the spouse’s name (Article 63 of the Family Litigation Act; Articles 276 and 300 of the Civil Execution Act).

- If you require measures to safeguard your life and safety because the other spouse who is a party to the divorce litigation or any family member of the spouse has been violent to you or if you must settle matters on fostering children during the divorce litigation period, you can consider applying to court for advance or preservative (provisional) measures (Articles 62(1) and 63(1) of the Family Litigation Act). Specifically, you can apply for an advance restraining order measure or provisional restraining order measure for the spouse’s domestic violence and advance measure designating a custodial or fostering parent, advance measure for visitation, etc. for the custody and fostering of children.