[Chatting] "Hammer assault" husband vs "Motel with a stray man" wife...Cheating Liability, Who's Bigger?

□ Broadcast date and time: October 18, 2024 (Fri)
□ Host: Attorney Cho In-seop
□ Cast: Attorney Cho Yoon-yong

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.
◇ Lawyer Cho In-seop (hereinafter referred to as Cho In-seop): Lawhouse for you, with lawyer Cho Yoon-yong.

◆ Lawyer Cho Yoon-yong (hereinafter referred to as Cho Yoon-yong): Hello, I'm lawyer Cho Yoon-yong of Shinsegae Law Firm.

◇ Jo In-seop: Let's first see what kind of concerns you have if you come to the counseling center today.

□ DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been married for 20 years and have one child. Because I am a poet, I earn little, so I run a traditional tea shop because of my wife and her child's education and financial problems, and she seems to be too close to the men who come and go to the tea shop. So once, I argued about it in the car, and my wife responded without saying a word. Out of control, I turned my car around the hill. And I took a little hand hammer out of the car. I didn't mean much. I just wanted to scare you. But my wife was screaming and swearing at me... I lost my temper and sat on my wife and crushed her face with a hammer. My wife, who ran away after a physical fight, called the police, and I was investigated. She packed her bags and left the house, and filed for divorce a month later. I wanted to solve the problem with a conversation. So I kept calling and texting, but he didn't respond. Then it was one day. I saw my wife enter a motel with another man. I was furious, so I followed him into the motel room. As soon as my wife saw me, she screamed in surprise and the man ran away. Seeing that the two of them went to the motel, I think she cheated on her long before she left the house, but she's telling me no. And it doesn't even tell you what the man who ran away is like. Am I supposed to get divorced like this?

◇ Cho In-seop: <Attorney Cho In-seop's Counseling Center> It's a little complicated story. You abused your wife, and she cheated. I don't think I can tell who did the wrong thing more, how did you hear it?

◆ Cho Yoon-yong: Yes, both violence and cheating are important reasons for the breakdown of marriage.It is not easy to judge who did more wrong and led to the breakdown of the marriage.

◇ Jo In-seop: Now... Then, let's look at the things you're curious about. If the other person was cheating even before he ran away, wouldn't it be a reason for the divorce to be dismissed by a liable spouse?

◆ Cho Yoon-yong: First of all, the time you witnessed the cheating scene was after the other person left the house and filed for divorce, so there is a possibility that the liability will be denied because you have already met the opposite sex after the marriage breakdown. Of course, considering that he left home and went to a motel within a month of filing for divorce, we cannot rule out the possibility that he was already cheating during his marriage before filing for divorce, but we need to supplement the circumstances that it was a meeting before the breakdown. However, in the case of the story, the timing of the cheating is also a problem, but it seems that you and the other party have already had a deep discord before, and in particular, the responsibility seems to be quite heavy for the act of dragging the other person to the hill just before separation and using a hammer. Even if the other person is found to have cheated during their marriage and is found to be liable, the liability for the violence you committed is no less significant than cheating, and as long as the other person has left home and filed for divorce, the marriage has already broken down to the point where it is hard to recover, so it seems unlikely that the other person will be dismissed because he is a liable spouse.

◇ Jo In-seop : In case of divorce, who will be responsible for alimony?

◆ Cho Yoon-yong: Alimony claims caused by divorce are strictly the nature of claims for damages for mental suffering caused by divorce itself, so it is decided that one party, which appears to be fundamentally and primarily responsible for the breakdown of the marriage, pays alimony to the other party. In the case of the story, if you want to hold the other person liable for alimony, you should reveal that the other person's cheating was not done after the marriage had already broken, but before the breakdown, which worsened the marital relationship and led to the breakdown. However, even if the other party's cheating is revealed before the breakdown, in the case of the story, we cannot guarantee that the other party who cheated will be liable for alimony because we cannot ignore the fault of the sender. The writer was unable to control his anger while arguing with the other person, and dragged the other person to a deserted hill at night and used violence with tools, which is severe enough to be a crime of special injury under the criminal law. As a result, the other party left the house and filed for divorce, and as mentioned earlier, alimony is imposed on the person who is primarily responsible for the breakdown of the marriage relationship by examining not only cheating but also the overall process.

◇ Cho In-seop: Can you file a claim for damages against Sanggan?

◆ Cho Yoon-yong: If a spouse's cheating leads to a divorce, he or she may also claim damages, that is, alimony. However, since the claim for damages against the mutual aid is also part of the lawsuit, at least the specificity of the mutual aid should be specified. In the case of the story, apart from the divorce lawsuit, you may be able to file a lawsuit for damages against the Sanggan, but the problem is that the Sanggan man ran away from the scene and the spouse is also keeping silent about the Sanggan man, so the key is whether you can identify him. As in the case of the story, it is true that the spouse cheated, but it is often not possible to find out who the other party is, and in this case, in order to identify the defendant, we use methods such as inquiring the mobile phone number frequently contacted through the spouse's call record, or tracking the details of the financial transaction through the details of the exchange of money. If you want to claim alimony against Sanggannam, you will have to make an effort to identify Sanggannam first.

◇ Cho In-seop: If you were to file a claim for damages, what would happen next?

◆ Cho Yoon-yong: If you filed a lawsuit for damages by specifying a private person, the key issue will be whether cheating was committed before the marriage broke down, and whether the couple's marriage broke down due to the two's cheating, that is, whether there is a causal relationship between cheating and marriage breakdown. First of all, as in the case of divorce proceedings earlier, the situation that the spouse and the mutual spouse had been seeing each other before the breakdown of the marriage should be revealed. On the other hand, if the spouse's alimony liability is not recognized in the divorce lawsuit due to the violence of the sender, it may be questioned whether the spouse's alimony liability is not necessarily recognized.

◇ Jo In-seop: Now, to summarize what we've done so far... Even if your wife's cheating is acknowledged due to your violent behavior and already deepened discord, the chances of her divorce being dismissed seem small. Liability for alimony in case of divorce is judged by considering both your violent behavior and your wife's cheating, and there is a possibility that you will pay alimony due to severe violence. You can claim damages against Sanggannam, but efforts are needed to identify Sanggannam. If you identify the perpetrator and claim damages, the key issue is whether the cheating occurred before the marriage broke down and its causal relationship. In addition, even if the wife's alimony liability is not recognized in the divorce lawsuit, the responsibility of the mutual aid may be recognized separately. So far, I've been with lawyer Cho Yoon-yong.

◆ Cho Yoon-yong: Thank you.

◇ Cho In-seop: You can listen to <Attorney Cho In-seop's Counseling Office> again on YouTube. If you have any questions or suggestions, please comment.