Marriage can be invalidated even if divorced... Sufficient legal preparation required

-Hyun Byeong-hee, Chief Attorney at Law Firm (Limited) Daeryun Legal Column

Divorce refers to artificially dissolving a marriage between a couple through agreement or trial. It can be understood as an act of erasing the memories and time spent on wedding photography and photos that were thought to be beautifully taken through social regulations. But this divorce is not as easy as it sounds. Moreover, if it is not the divorce, but the marriage itself after the divorce is invalidated.

‘Marriage annulment’ after divorce, which seemed difficult, will now become possible. On the 23rd of last month, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a marriage can be annulled even if the couple has already divorced. It is natural that this issue is attracting attention as the Supreme Court precedent, which ruled that there was no benefit in seeking an annulment of marriage if the couple had already divorced, has changed for the first time in 40 years.

An invalid marriage does not take effect from the beginning, and divorce takes effect after divorce, so legal relationships that arose on the premise of marriage before divorce are still valid. Therefore, since the legal effects of marriage invalidity and divorce are different, there may be a benefit in confirming that the marriage relationship is invalid even after divorce. If the marriage is invalid, the provisions prohibiting marriage between relatives under the Civil Act and the provisions on funeral ceremonies for relatives under the Criminal Act do not apply, and joint liability for daily household debts under the Civil Act cannot be held.

This ruling can be said to be a very significant ruling in that it affirms the benefit of confirmation as a means of resolving comprehensive legal disputes in one go for requests for confirmation of nullity of marriage after divorce, and expands the rights relief methods of the parties so that disputes related to legal life can be practically resolved, such as providing a means to correct family relations registers where invalid marriage history is incorrectly recorded.

If a marriage is annulled, you can legally regain your status as an ‘unmarried person.’ Since there has never been a marriage in the first place, even the legal relationship is extinguished, making one more free from various legal disputes. Additionally, you can receive benefits such as various welfare and support projects that you could not enjoy because of your marriage record. Social activities and rights can now be guaranteed to single dads and single mothers, as well as those who have been married and divorced through illegal means.

However, under the judgment that divorce and marriage annulment have different legal effects, it was concluded that there was a legal interest in seeking confirmation of marriage invalidity through this ruling. It is important to keep in mind that not only are the grounds for annulment a marriage very limited, but this case does not broadly recognize the grounds.

As an example, recently, famous celebrity A filed a lawsuit for annulment of marriage after divorcing B. The main reason is that the other party, Mr. B, hid the existence of the woman with whom he was in a common-law relationship, but Mr. A is claiming that 'the marriage is annulled because he got married under deception.' Given the existing precedent, the question arises as to whether there is any benefit to be gained by annulling the marriage since the divorce process has been completed. However, because this ruling allows the court to determine that 'there may be legal benefit,' we have no choice but to pay attention to whether Mr. A's invalidity lawsuit can be won.

In this way, a lawsuit claiming invalidity of marriage can only proceed if there are special circumstances, and it must be proven that a legal benefit can arise. Since you need to look into the details and each case, you must appoint a professional attorney and provide sufficient preparation and consultation.

A specific case has emerged showing that a marriage annulment lawsuit can be filed even after divorce. An opportunity has come to piece together the memories that were tangled, fragmented, and crooked like a skein of thread. It won't be long before I can courageously look at the wedding photos and camera shutters that I took with a smile on my face again.

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