Sole Ownership of the Family Home Secured in Korean Divorce Mediation

Case Overview

A wife who co-owned the family home with her husband secured sole ownership of the property through divorce mediation, even though the husband initially refused to agree to the divorce. The mediation resolved the divorce, the division of the couple's main asset, the outstanding mortgage, and all related financial claims in a single court-approved agreement.

Background

The client and her husband owned their family home in equal one-half shares. After concluding that the marriage could no longer continue, the client applied to the Seoul Family Court for divorce mediation, seeking a divorce together with consolation money and a division of marital property.

The husband opposed the divorce from the outset. In his written response to the court, he stated that he could not accept the divorce and that the marriage could continue. He denied the claims for consolation money and property division in full, and later retained his own lawyer, who asked the court to dismiss all of the client's claims.

Key Family Law Issues

The case raised several overlapping questions under Korean family law. The first was whether the client could obtain a divorce at all in the face of her husband's refusal. Where one spouse will not agree, a divorce can only be granted if the party seeking it proves the existence of serious grounds that make it difficult to continue the marriage — one of the fault-based grounds set out in the Korean Civil Act. If mediation failed, the client would have had to establish such grounds at trial.

The second question concerned the home. Because the couple held the property in equal shares and it carried a mortgage for which the husband was the named borrower, the division could not be handled simply by assigning the house to one party. Ownership of the home and responsibility for the secured loan had to be resolved together, in a way that the bank would accept.

The final issue was the need to settle every outstanding financial matter at once — the home, the mortgage, the couple's pension entitlements, their remaining assets and debts, and the claim for consolation money — so that the divorce would not give rise to further disputes.

Taeshin's Approach

Taeshin Law Firm acted as the client's legal representative in the divorce mediation. With the husband's counsel arguing for the claims to be dismissed, the team attended the mediation hearing with the client and negotiated a settlement structured around the client's central priority: remaining in the home she had shared with her family.

The settlement provided that the client would take over her husband's one-half share and become the sole owner of the home, compensating him with a cash property-division payment. To prevent any later dispute over the house, the agreement tied the husband's transfer of his share and his departure from the property to his receipt of the full payment, and addressed the mortgage directly: the client would assume the secured loan, with a reimbursement mechanism in place in the event the bank did not approve the transfer and the husband was left to repay it.

Outcome

In June 2024, the Seoul Family Court confirmed the mediation settlement. The couple was divorced. The client was to pay her husband a property-division payment of 100 million won by the end of August 2024, with delay interest accruing if the payment was late. On receiving the full amount, the husband was to transfer his one-half share of the home to the client and move out, with the transfer costs borne by the client.

The client assumed the full mortgage secured on the home, with the husband responsible for principal and interest up to late June 2024 and the client responsible thereafter. The couple agreed to forgo any division of pension entitlements, to retain their remaining assets and debts separately, and not to bring any further claims against one another — including for consolation money and property division. The client waived her remaining claims as part of the settlement, and each party bore their own costs.

What This Case Shows

This case illustrates that a spouse who refuses to agree to a divorce does not necessarily prevent one. Family-court mediation can resolve the divorce and the property questions together, allowing a party to reach a final settlement without having to litigate fault. For a spouse who wants to remain in the shared home, taking over the other spouse's share and settling it with a cash payment — while simultaneously addressing the mortgage, the timing of the transfer, and the departure from the property — is a practical way to avoid disputes after the divorce.