Husband Gave 2 Million Won to His Parents, Only a 100,000 Won Gift to Wife’s Family... Divorce Lawsuit Follows

A 100,000 Won Gift to Her Parents, Millions to His

Husband Secretly Amasses 32 Million Won Debt... Divorce Proceedings Ensue

A story has emerged about a dual-income couple married for 11 years who eventually ended up filing for divorce after conflicts over money spent on the husband's family and debts secretly incurred by the husband.

The photo is an AI-generated image created to aid the understanding of the article. ChatGPT

On September 22, on the “Villain Prevention Committee” segment of YTN Radio’s “News FM: Wise Radio Life,” lawyer Inseob Cho shared a related divorce counseling case.

According to the story, both spouses were working and the husband managed the household expense account. The wife would deposit half of her monthly salary into the account, and the husband would add the rest to cover the couple’s living expenses.

The problem repeated itself every holiday season. The husband would give his parents 2 million won in cash each time, but only sent a gift set worth about 100,000 won to the wife’s parents.

When the wife expressed her hurt feelings, the husband responded, “Your father receives a pension, but my parents only have me to rely on.”

The wife stopped pressing the issue, but last year the conflict escalated when the husband spent an additional 4 million won to replace the boiler at his parents’ house.

Furthermore, earlier this year, a debt the wife knew nothing about was revealed. The bank notified them that the overdraft account limit had been exceeded, and upon checking, the debt amounted to 32 million won.

The wife felt deeply betrayed by the fact that for 11 years the husband had made important decisions about their assets without consulting her, and said that trust between them was broken. She filed for divorce.

Lawyer Inseob Cho, upon hearing the case, explained, “It is not simply the financial issues that become grounds for divorce, but when one spouse repeatedly uses assets and even hides debts without discussing them with the other, leading to a breakdown of trust, this can be a cause for the breakdown of the marriage.”

Regarding whether the wife must share responsibility for the husband’s overdraft debt, of which she was unaware, Cho explained, “In divorce proceedings, debts are only subject to division if they were incurred for the shared benefit of the marital life.”

He added, “If all of the money withdrawn from the overdraft account was spent solely on the husband’s parents, it could be excluded from asset division; however, if even part of it was used for household living expenses, the situation becomes more complex. In that case, the husband’s contribution may be assessed as lower, which affects the division of assets.”

On the question of whether money transferred to a spouse’s parents without the other’s consent is subject to division, Cho pointed out that the timing of the transfer is important. He said, “If money was returned to the parents or deposits were transferred to them just before filing for divorce, it can be seen as disposing of assets after marital breakdown, so those amounts may also be subject to division.”

He further advised, “It is best for the wife to secure documentation verifying how much living expense money she sent to her husband, how much ultimately was given to the husband’s parents, and how much was actually sent to her own parents, by reviewing the husband’s account during the legal process.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.