“My ex-husband’s company went bankrupt right after we divorced ... I got the Gangnam apartment, but was accused of staging a sham divorce” [The Law]

[Financial News] A woman who ended her 20-year marriage in the United States and found herself accused of a sham divorce after her ex-husband’s company went bankrupt shortly after they divorced has sought legal advice.
On the 6th, YTN radio’s “Attorney Jo In-seop’s Counseling Center” featured the story of Ms. A, who divorced her Korean-American husband in the United States three years ago.
Ms. A began by saying, “I married my Korean-American husband, whom I met while studying in the United States, and settled there, where we lived together for 20 years.” She added, “My husband set up a company that imported Korean cosmetics and distributed them in the United States.”
Her husband initially started his business with cosmetics, then expanded his product line to snacks and health foods, and the business reportedly flourished year by year. Ms. A also helped with her husband’s business day and night, but as it grew, he became neglectful of the family. “We started arguing more often about money, and we grew increasingly distant as a couple,” Ms. A said. “In the end, three years ago, a California court in the United States granted our divorce.”
At the time, the court awarded Ms. A the couple’s jointly owned apartment in Gangnam, Seoul. She also obtained a judgment of enforcement from a South Korean court and transferred the apartment’s title into her name.
The problem arose right afterward. The husband’s company went bankrupt shortly after the divorce, as an overly aggressive business expansion was compounded by rising exchange rates and the bankruptcy of business partners. The bank, which had lent him several billion won, then sued Ms. A, claiming that she had divorced him in name only to avoid repaying the debt and had transferred the apartment into her own name.
“I was completely dumbfounded. We divorced because our relationship had genuinely deteriorated,” Ms. A said. “What’s more, my husband appealed the ruling in the United States, and the U.S. court upheld the divorce itself but overturned only the property division.”
She went on to lament, “My ex-husband’s side is demanding that the apartment title be transferred back, and even my former mother-in-law has stepped in, claiming that the company shares held in my ex-husband’s name were originally hers and asserting her rights to them.” She added, “My plan to finalize the divorce in the United States, return to Korea, and make a fresh start has been completely upended,” and asked for advice on what to do next.
Attorney Lee Hyun-ho, who reviewed the case, explained, “If the U.S. court’s ruling on property division has been overturned, the registration transferring ownership of the apartment, which has already been completed in Korea, could also become an issue. However, if she can prove that the divorce was granted by a court ruling and that they have in fact lived separate lives since the divorce, she can adequately rebut a claim that it was a sham divorce.”
He added, “If the division of property following a divorce did not substantially exceed the usual level, it would be difficult to establish it as a fraudulent conveyance. Evidence is needed to support the former mother-in-law’s claim that she is the actual owner of the company shares.” He advised her to actively contest the property division proceedings in the United States while also preparing for the lawsuit currently underway in Korea.

[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter