A lawyer explains the importance of claiming divorce alimony and collecting evidence

Most people who have decided to divorce probably have the biggest question about ‘alimony.’ This is because it is a legal means to recover from emotional wounds and mental damage accumulated over a long period of time. However, when you actually want to claim alimony, you may often feel at a loss because you do not have accurate information about what claim to make or how much money you can receive.

Alimony is a request for compensation for property and mental damages from the spouse responsible for the breakdown of the marriage under civil law. Therefore, in order for a claim for alimony to be accepted, the other party must be responsible and it must be clearly proven that this led to the breakdown of the marriage. This means that beyond simple personality differences or conflicts, wrongdoings such as verbal abuse, assault, or habitual infidelity must be proven.

When determining the amount of alimony, the court comprehensively considers the duration of the marriage, the degree of responsibility of the other party, the presence of children, and the childcare situation. Even in the same affair case, the amount of alimony you can receive may vary depending on whether the marriage lasted 1 year or 20 years and whether there are 1 or 3 children. Generally, alimony is set at an average of 10 to 30 million won, but if the other party's fault is severe, a higher amount may be requested.

The most necessary thing to receive alimony is ‘objective evidence.’ This is because it is necessary to objectively and clearly prove that the other party is at fault. For example, if the spouse's affair was the problem, messages, phone records, and lodging records that the spouse exchanged with the person with whom the adultery was committed must be secured. If there was an assault or verbal abuse, relevant medical certificates, transcripts, and police report details are required. If the cause is financial irresponsibility or neglect of life, it is advantageous to have bank transaction details or spending records.

Attorney Seoyoung Hwang of Daeryun Law Firm in Gangneung said, "However, it is realistically difficult for an individual to completely collect such evidence on his own. In particular, in the case of extramarital affairs, most cases are carried out secretly, so there are limits to the ability of the general public to secure data that meets legal requirements." He also added, "Also, in the process of collecting evidence, you may unintentionally commit crimes such as illegal filming or invasion of privacy, and in this case, you may be at risk of punishment. In such cases, the difficultly collected evidence cannot be submitted as evidence in a lawsuit. Therefore, it is best to collect evidence in a legal manner and prepare a lawsuit based on strategic preparation through the assistance of an expert such as a divorce lawyer.”

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A lawyer explains the importance of claiming divorce alimony and collecting evidence (link)