When the two keep meeting after a settlement or judgment

With a settlement agreement, a single phrase can decide the outcome. Find the original and first check the date, the signatures and who is named as a party.

• The original settlement agreement, mediation record or judgment
• Whether there is a no-contact clause and an amount payable on breach, and whether it is a breach payment or a penalty for breach
• How far wording such as "no further claims will be made" extends
• Whether the signs of renewed meetings come after the settlement or judgment (the dates)
• What you will do about your relationship with your spouse

When you catch signs that they are meeting again, you will want to confront the affair partner right away. But contact at this stage leads the other side to erase evidence, and emotional wording can escalate into accusations of threats (협박) or defamation (명예훼손).

The usual order is to organize the facts of the breach, first demand payment of the breach payment or penalty by certified letter (내용증명), and go to court if they don't comply.

What a judgment or settlement resolves is the infidelity up to that point. If they met again afterward and committed infidelity, you can claim compensation (위자료) separately for that new tort. The effect of a judgment does not extend to events that occur after the hearings close.

However, if the no-further-lawsuits wording in the settlement agreement is broad, there may be disputes over how much was waived. Reading the wording carefully comes first.

If the settlement agreement has a clause such as "If there is further contact, X will be paid," you can claim under that clause. A breach payment (위약금) is presumed to be liquidated damages, which the court can reduce if it finds it excessive (Civil Act (민법) Article 398); if it was set as a penalty for breach (위약벌), it is harder to reduce, but if excessively heavy it may be partly void.

The scope of the breach can also be disputed. If the agreement says only "no meeting" and the two only exchanged messages, whether that is a breach becomes an issue. The more specifically the agreement describes the methods of contact, the fewer the disputes. If both "breach payment" and "penalty for breach" appear, its nature is judged by looking at the agreement as a whole.

If this has made you decide to divorce, you can also claim divorce compensation from your spouse. The fact that your spouse had an affair again after the earlier settlement is a serious circumstance showing responsibility for the breakdown of the marriage.

If your spouse wrote a pledge earlier, that is also considered. The parts admitting facts serve as evidence, and claims under monetary promises are considered to the extent they may be recognized as valid.

Evidence from the first case does not support this new claim. You need material dated after the settlement or judgment. Organize messages, photos of the two together, and lodging and payment records in date order, and consider evidence preservation (증거보전) for CCTV that may be erased. Clues from the first case that can still be used, such as the affair partner's contact details or car plate number, are put to use again.

This time too, avoid unlawful methods. Material obtained with a car recorder or location tracker is hard to use as evidence and also creates a risk of punishment.

Jisan Law starts by reading the wording of the settlement agreement and judgment, and looks at whether a claim under the breach payment or penalty clause and a new compensation claim can be brought together. If the other side doesn't pay, we also consider compulsory execution. A managing partner consults with you personally, and we explain the fees after the consultation. You can send us a message through the chat on this page at any time.