When you should get advice
- My partner reported our marriage without my consent
- My foreign spouse disappeared as soon as they entered Korea
- Only after the wedding did I learn my spouse hid a previous marriage and children
- I signed the marriage report because of threats
- I don't know whether nullity or divorce is the better option
Relevant provisions
Civil Act (민법) Article 815, Item 1 (Nullity of marriage)
A marriage is void if there was no agreement to marry between the parties.
Civil Act Article 816 (Grounds for annulment of marriage)
Along with violations of the marriageable age or consent requirements and bigamy, you can ask the court to annul a marriage if, at the time of marriage, you did not know of a vicious disease or other serious reason making it impossible to continue married life, or if you married because of fraud or duress.
Civil Act Articles 822, 823 and 824
Annulment on the ground of a serious reason cannot be claimed once 6 months have passed since you learned of the reason, and annulment on the ground of fraud or duress cannot be claimed once 3 months have passed since you learned of the fraud or escaped the duress. The effect of annulment does not reach back to the past.
Statutes are summarized. The official Korean text is available at the Korea Law Information Center (law.go.kr).
Nullity versus annulment of marriage
Main grounds
- Nullity of marriage
- No agreement to marry (Civil Act Article 815)
- Annulment of marriage
- Fraud or duress, a serious hidden reason, bigamy, etc. (Civil Act Article 816)
Effect
- Nullity of marriage
- The marriage is treated as never having existed
- Annulment of marriage
- Dissolved going forward from when the judgment becomes final
Deadline to claim
- Nullity of marriage
- At any time (Family Litigation Act Article 23)
- Annulment of marriage
- 3 months from learning of the fraud or escaping the duress / 6 months from learning of a serious reason
Children born in the meantime
- Nullity of marriage
- Treated as born out of wedlock (Civil Act Article 855(1))
- Annulment of marriage
- Keep their status as children born in wedlock
| Category | Nullity of marriage | Annulment of marriage |
|---|---|---|
| Main grounds | No agreement to marry (Civil Act Article 815) | Fraud or duress, a serious hidden reason, bigamy, etc. (Civil Act Article 816) |
| Effect | The marriage is treated as never having existed | Dissolved going forward from when the judgment becomes final |
| Deadline to claim | At any time (Family Litigation Act Article 23) | 3 months from learning of the fraud or escaping the duress / 6 months from learning of a serious reason |
| Children born in the meantime | Treated as born out of wedlock (Civil Act Article 855(1)) | Keep their status as children born in wedlock |
| Mediation | Lawsuit without mediation | Mediation must be requested first (Family Litigation Act Article 50) |
Based on the Civil Act and the Family Litigation Act (checked on the Korea Law Information Center, the government's official legislation database, October 2026).
What 'no intention to marry' means
In a decision of June 10, 2010 (2010므574), the Supreme Court described an agreement to marry as a meeting of minds to form the emotional and physical union that society recognizes as a married couple. If only one side had that intention and the other reported the marriage as a means of entering Korea or getting work, the marriage is void (혼인무효) even if they agreed to the report itself.
If the other person secretly forged documents to report the marriage, there was also no agreement to marry, so you can claim nullity. On the other hand, a relationship that went bad after the wedding is not a matter of nullity but of divorce.
If you were deceived into marriage, the deadline is short
Annulment of marriage (혼인취소) due to fraud becomes an issue when important facts that would have affected the decision to marry were hidden through deception. There is no duty to disclose everything in one's past, so you need to examine what was hidden and how important it was to the decision.
Annulment cannot be claimed once 3 months have passed since you learned of the fraud, or 6 months since you learned of a reason such as a serious illness. 'When you found out' becomes a point of dispute, so keep messages or records from the day you found out. If the deadline has passed, we change direction and consider divorce.
The outcome depends on which path you choose
With nullity, the marriage is treated as never having existed, and the family relationship register is corrected by the judgment. With annulment, the marriage ends when the judgment becomes final, the status of children born in the meantime stays the same, and custody and visitation follow the same rules as in divorce (Civil Act Article 824-2).
You can claim damages for emotional distress from the other person responsible for the nullity or annulment (Civil Act Articles 825 and 806). If you built assets together, how to settle them also has to be examined separately to suit the case.
How Jisan Law's Family Law Center proceeds
- 1
Choosing the path
The managing partner consults with you personally and chooses among nullity, annulment and divorce the path that fits the facts and the deadlines.
- 2
Checking the deadline
For annulment, we pin down the day you learned of the fraud or escaped the duress and calculate the time remaining.
- 3
Organizing the evidence
We show the intention to marry or the deception through how the marriage report came about, whether you lived together, messages exchanged and statements from people around you.
- 4
Correction after the judgment
Once the judgment is final, we guide you through the register correction or report that must be made within 1 month.
Lawyers handling these cases
Hansol Kim Managing Partner
Former prosecutor at the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, the Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office and the Hongseong Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office
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Miso Kim Partner
Formerly at Daehwan Law Firm, in-house counsel on the legal team of Wemade Co., Ltd., and Oracle Law Firm
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Frequently asked questions
My spouse hid debts before the marriage. Can the marriage be annulled?
Hidden debts alone do not lead straight to annulment. The court looks at how important the debts were to the decision to marry and whether there was active deception. If annulment is difficult, we also consider pursuing grounds for divorce and compensation for emotional distress (위자료).
If the marriage is declared void, is the marriage record erased from the family relationship register?
Within 1 month of receiving the final judgment, you apply for a correction of the register to set the marriage record right (Act on the Registration of Family Relationships Article 107). How the corrected record is shown may differ depending on the type of certificate.
Can I sue even if I don't know how to contact the other person?
Yes. If it is shown that the address cannot be found, the case proceeds by service by public notice (공시송달). For a foreign spouse, a check of immigration records is also used.