“100 million won in debt for overseas trips and luxury handbags”... Wife secretly repaid it with her husband’s salary [What do you think?]

[Financial News]  A man who only later learned that his wife, who had said she had no debt before they married, actually owed nearly 100 million won is considering having the marriage annulled. His wife had borrowed money for overseas trips and luxury handbag purchases, among other things, and is said to have secretly repaid the debt from a joint account into which her husband’s salary was deposited.
The husband said he would not have married his wife if he had known about her debt and sought legal advice on whether he could have the marriage annulled. He also asked whether he was liable for money she had borrowed before they married and whether he could recover amounts already repaid using their joint living expenses.
On the 15th, YTN Radio’s “Attorney Jo In-seop’s Counseling Center” featured the account of A, a 34-year-old office worker who had been married for six months and was struggling over his wife’s hidden debt.
The two met through a friend and married after dating for about a year. A said he had been drawn to his wife’s affectionate and outgoing personality while they were dating. He said he had trusted her so much that, even as they were preparing for the wedding, he thought, “What good fortune did I have to meet someone like this?”
Even when they checked each other’s assets and debts before the wedding, he did not doubt what his wife told him. At the time, she said, “I haven’t managed to save much, but I don’t have any debt.”
A used his savings and a loan in his own name to cover the deposit for their newlywed home. They agreed to pay their living expenses from a joint account into which A’s salary would be deposited.
But before even three months of marriage had passed, something strange happened. Mail began arriving for his wife from credit card companies and savings banks, as well as from moneylenders he had never heard of.
When A asked her about the mail, his wife reportedly replied, “It’s just advertising,” and hurriedly put it away.
The wife’s debt came to light after a call from a private lender. The caller who contacted A was a debt collector trying to recover money lent to his wife.
When A took the call and asked his wife if it was true, she hesitated for a while before admitting that she had been in debt since before they married. Her credit card loans, savings bank loans and private loans from moneylenders totaled about 100 million won.
It also emerged that his mother-in-law had known about her daughter’s debt before the wedding. In addition, regular automatic transfers from the joint account—which A had thought were contributions to an installment savings account—had actually been used to repay his wife’s personal debts.
In effect, part of A’s salary had been used to pay off his wife’s debt without his knowledge.
A was reportedly even more taken aback when he learned why she had borrowed the money. His wife explained that she had spent about half the debt on overseas trips before the wedding and the rest on meeting up with friends and buying bags, among other things.
A said, “The reason she got into debt was even more absurd. She said she spent about half of it traveling overseas before we got married. She said she spent the rest hanging out with friends and bought bags, too. And yet she said she didn’t know how her debt had grown so much.” He added, “If I had known from the start that she had a huge debt of nearly 100 million won, I would never have married her.”
Attorney Kwak Dong-ju explained that if the wife had deliberately concealed a large debt before the marriage, there might be grounds to seek an annulment on grounds of fraud. He emphasized, however, that there is a time limit for seeking an annulment.
Attorney Kwak said, “If she clearly lied and said she had no debt during a conversation about money, and if the debt amounted to 100 million won and even her family helped conceal it, there may be grounds to seek an annulment. You cannot seek an annulment on grounds of fraud once three months have passed from the day you learned of the fraud, so you need to decide quickly.”
He also explained the legal difference between annulment and divorce. Attorney Kwak said, “An annulment voids a marriage that was defective from the time it was entered into, whereas divorce ends a marriage that was validly formed.”
The entries in the family relations register also differ. He added, “If an annulment is granted, the family relations register will say ‘marriage annulment,’ not ‘divorce.’”
He said that, in principle, a husband does not have to repay money his wife borrowed before they married. Attorney Kwak explained, “The assets and debts each person had before marriage belong to that person. A is under no obligation to repay them.”
Regarding debt collection agencies repeatedly demanding that the husband repay the debt, he advised, “It is against the law to repeatedly demand that someone who is not the debtor repay the debt on their behalf in a way that disrupts their private life or peace at work. Record the calls, and if the contact continues, you can file a complaint with the Financial Supervisory Service or the financial company concerned.”
He said the amounts used to repay the wife’s debt from the joint account could be disputed during property division. Attorney Kwak said, “In the property division, you can argue that she has already taken that amount in advance and ask for it to be deducted from her share.”
He said that this would require account transaction records and documents showing the source of the money used for the deposit on the newlywed home. He said, “It’s a good idea to organize the account records showing payments to moneylenders or credit card companies, and to gather documents showing whose money went toward the deposit for the newlywed home and how much each person contributed.”


[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter