Can a homemaker receive property division?

Before you move out or bring up divorce, gather the following.

• Certified copies of the registers for your home and any land, and the loan balances
• The names of the financial institutions for any of your spouse's bank, insurance and securities accounts you know of
• Your spouse's workplace and years of service (needed to calculate severance pay)
• When and why you stopped working after the marriage, and how long you raised the children
• The flow of money you brought into the marriage or received from your own family

Property division (재산분할) is a system for dividing assets built through both spouses' cooperation during the marriage (Civil Act (민법) Article 839-2). Taking on housework and childcare so your spouse could focus on work, saving by cutting living costs and repaying loans, and managing the home and rental properties all count as cooperation.

So whose name an asset is in is only a starting point. The court looks at how the assets were built and who did what.

Material showing contribution does not have to be impressive. Household account books, living-expense bank records, daycare and medical records for the children, the period you cared for your in-laws, and traces of helping in your spouse's business can all be used. Even if the records are old, don't throw them away; keep them together.

There is no fixed formula. The general view in practice is that the longer the marriage, the more weight tends to be given to contributions through housework and childcare, but the ratio is not set by length alone.

Assets your spouse owned before the marriage or inherited are in principle not divided. However, if you helped protect them or increase their value, you can argue for them to be included in the division. Conversely, if there is a dispute claiming you wasted living expenses, you also need to prepare an explanation for that.

If you worked for a few years along the way or added to living costs through a side job, also organize your income for those periods. The fact that your career was interrupted for childcare can also be considered in relation to your ability to support yourself after the divorce.

It is fine if you do not know all the assets in your spouse's name. If you apply for an asset disclosure order (재산명시) and asset inquiry (재산조회) in the lawsuit, you can check assets in your spouse's name held at financial institutions and public agencies (Family Litigation Act (가사소송법) Articles 48-2 and 48-3). Any bank or company names you know help define the scope of the inquiry.

• Severance pay not yet received. Even while your spouse is still employed, the retirement benefits expected if they retired now are subject to division (Supreme Court en banc decision 2013므2250).
• Civil service pensions and the National Pension. For the National Pension, a split pension is claimed separately from the National Pension Service after the divorce.
• Surrender values of insurance policies, interests in your spouse's business, and cars
• Deposits moved into the names of children or your spouse's relatives

Do not sign a pledge saying 'I don't need any assets' just to end the conflict quickly. Leaving bank statements, insurance policies and registration documents behind when you move out is also a common mistake. On the other hand, secretly moving your spouse's assets into your name will only work against you.

Even if your spouse says 'you never earned any money, so you get nothing', do not set the terms based on that. Even when settling by agreement, writing the agreement after both of you have checked the list of assets reduces the chance of fighting again later.

At Jisan Law, the managing partner consults with you personally and organizes the list of assets and the material on your contribution on one page. Unknown assets are checked through asset disclosure orders and asset inquiries in the lawsuit, and for assets at risk of disposal, we start by applying for provisional attachment (가압류). We explain fees after the consultation, tailored to your case.