"My gullible husband lost even his severance pay in a get-rich-quick scam... Is the apartment in my name safe?" [This Is the Law]

[The Financial News] A woman has shared that she is considering divorce after her gullible husband, who was always chasing "one big score," made reckless investments and is now on the brink of bankruptcy.

On the 6th, YTN Radio's "Attorney Jo In-seop's Counseling Center" featured the story of a woman, identified as Ms. A, who is thinking about divorcing her husband. He never thinks about saving money and only shouts that "life is all about one big hit."
Ms. A began, "My husband is extremely gullible. He's been that way since we first got married. Whenever he heard that someone around us made money from an investment, he would jump in without doing any proper research."
She went on, "All we own is the one home we bought when we got married," adding, "We also have debt."
She continued, "Five years ago, my husband opened a franchise fried chicken restaurant, but it eventually closed down due to the impact of COVID-19." She added, "We are still paying off the loan we took out back then. To cover our living expenses and the loan interest, I’ve been steadily working at a large supermarket."
Ms. A said, "Recently, my husband fell for an online investment scam. It was what they called an 'AI automatic investment program'—a scheme claiming that artificial intelligence would buy and sell stocks and coins on its own to generate stable returns." She added, "At first, he put in only a small amount, but when actual profits started coming in, he completely lost his head."
She went on, "The company told him that if he increased his investment, his returns would grow, so he took an early payout of his severance pay and withdrew 50 million won." She added, "On top of that, without telling me, he borrowed another 50 million won from my mother-in-law and sent a total of 100 million won to the scammer’s account."
She confided, "My husband can’t handle the debt and is even thinking about filing for personal bankruptcy." She lamented, "Our children are growing up, and I no longer have the confidence to keep living with someone like this."
She then asked for advice, saying, "If you send money to a scammer’s account like my husband did, what steps should you take? And if my husband goes bankrupt, will there be any problems with the apartment that is in my name? I want to know whether I will suffer any disadvantages."

After hearing the story, Attorney Im Kyung-mi stated, "If one spouse uses a large sum of money based solely on their own decision, without any discussion, in a way that threatens the family’s livelihood or damages their credit to the point of considering bankruptcy, it can be seen as a loss of mutual trust." She added, "If such actions repeatedly lead to conflict, it becomes difficult to maintain the marriage, so obtaining a divorce would likely not be difficult."
Attorney Im went on to explain, "If you have been the victim of an investment scam, you should report it to the police for fraud as soon as you realize it. After that, you need to obtain a copy of your report from the police and apply to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to freeze payments to the third-party account." She added, "If the other party objects, you must file a lawsuit within 90 days for the freeze to remain in place. If there is no objection, you can get the remaining funds back in proportion to the amount of damage you suffered."
Regarding the possibility of the husband’s bankruptcy, Attorney Im explained that the wife’s assets would be safe, saying, "In line with the principle of a system of separate property between spouses, in personal bankruptcy proceedings the spouse’s property is, in principle, treated separately." She added, "Divorce and division of property are also possible during the bankruptcy process," but cautioned, "If assets are transferred or hidden by giving everything to the wife in order to avoid bankruptcy, that can create legal problems."

newssu@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Su-yeon Reporter