"Now Live the Life You Want, Dad"—Teacher Husband Decides to Divorce After His Children’s Advice: "Will My Pension Be Divided Too?" [This Law]

[Financial News] A man who endured for more than 25 years a wife who neglected her family while devoting herself to business and did not hesitate to hurl abusive language at him has belatedly decided to divorce and sought legal advice on the division of property.

On the 7th, YTN Radio’s "Attorney Jo In-seop’s Counseling Center" introduced the story of Mr. A, who said he had decided to divorce his wife after years of deliberation.
Mr. A, who said he had worked as a Korean-language teacher for 25 years, began by saying, "I met my wife in a university club, and we got married."
He confided, "After we married, I began working as a teacher, while my wife entered the cosmetics business with an investment from an acquaintance. At first, the business seemed to be going smoothly, but she was the victim of a major fraud and eventually had to close it down."
He continued, "Even then, my wife did not give up. She tried several new businesses, but every one of them failed. As the businesses failed one after another, the debts kept growing."
Mr. A, who said he worked, raised their two children, and handled household chores, stated, "My wife paid almost no attention to the family because she was so focused on her businesses. When she got angry, she threw things and hurled severe verbal abuse at me. But I thought I had to keep the family together until the children grew up, so I endured it for 25 years, even taking on the debts caused by her business failures."

Their adult children told Mr. A, "Dad, now live the life you want," and he said that hearing those words led him to decide, after years of deliberation, to divorce.
Mr. A said, "But the division of property is giving me a headache. Most of the assets my wife and I accumulated disappeared while we were dealing with her debts, and all that remains is roughly two apartments. One is in my name, while the other was placed in my wife’s younger sister’s name because of issues involving my wife’s business debts."
He added, "My wife claims that only the apartment in my name is subject to division, excluding the one in her younger sister’s name. She also says that my civil servant pension and retirement allowance must be divided."
He sought advice, saying, "I feel dejected after hearing that even future pension benefits I have not yet received could be subject to division. The apartment in my sister-in-law’s name is actually an asset belonging to my wife and me, so I want to know whether it can be included in the division of property and how the debts from my wife’s business failures will be handled during the process."

Lawyer Kim Miru, who reviewed the case, advised, "Because they were married for more than 25 years, the retirement pension and retirement allowance he will receive in the future may be subject to division. If, during the mediation stage, they reach an agreement—taking various circumstances and each party’s contributions into account—to waive their respective pension claims, he may be able to preserve his pension rights."
She explained, "The apartment in the sister-in-law’s name can be included in the division only if there is objective evidence suggesting that the wife placed it in another person’s name as a nominee trust. Since it is legally an apartment in someone else’s name, it would be difficult to treat it as marital property unless ownership is transferred on the basis of terminating the nominee trust."
She added, "If it is confirmed that the wife paid money toward acquiring the apartment, that amount could be regarded as a loan to the sister-in-law. That portion could therefore be subject to division."

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