LIN (Managing Partner: Jin Seok Lim) and the Law Times (CEO: Soo Hyung Lee) held the first Law Times Here Law & Hear Law Forum on the topic of 'The Constitutional Court’s Ruling on the Legal Reserve of Inheritance and Expected Change to the Inheritance and Corporate Succession’ at the Bar Association Building in Seocho-dong, Seoul on the 22nd.
The event was organized to predict the future impact of the Constitutional Court's recent decision on the unconstitutionality of the legal reserve of inheritance on the inheritance and corporate succession, and was attended by more than 50 legal experts, including LIN’s Managing Partner Jin Seok Lim (59, 20th class of Judicial Research and Training Institute), CEO of Law Times Soo Hyung Lee, and Professor Emeritus of Seoul National University Jin Soo Yoon (69, 9th class of Judicial Research and Training Institute).
In his opening remarks, LIN’s Managing Partner Jin Seok Lim said, “LIN recently obtained the Constitutional Court's decision to find the legal reserve of inheritance unconstitutional. I look forward to sharing the implications of the Constitutional Court's such decision and discussing actively the expected changes in the legal reserve of inheritance and the area of inheritance.”
Attorney In Chul Kang (57, 21st class) of LIN gave a presentation on the 'Significance and Prospects of the Constitutional Court's Decision on the Unconstitutionality of the Legal Reserve of Inheritance.’ Kang, who represented the claimant in this case, said, “the provisions at issue were Articles 1112-1118 of the Civil Act,” and added that “we emphasized that the freedom of the decedents to dispose of their private property and to make a will is being significantly infringed, which violates the principles of prohibition of excessive restriction and minimum infringement.”
“The Constitutional Court made this decision on the grounds that it is against the general public's sentiment toward the law and common sense to recognize the minimum portions of inheritance of the heir who has engaged in immoral behavior, such as abandoning or mentally or physically abusing the decedent for a long period of time,” he said. Kang further said, “this decision is significant in that the Constitutional Court actively reflected the changes in the times, such as changes in family relationships.” He also expressed hope that “the legislative process regarding the reasons for the loss of the minimum portions of the inheritance and contribution share will be carried out in a reasonable manner in the future.”
Afterward, Attorney Jong Sik Kim (57, 37th) of LIN, Professor Jong Geun Oh of Ewha Womans University School of Law, and Professor Kim Hyun Jin of Inha University School of Law discussed the direction of revising the legal reserve of inheritance system.
Professor Jong Geun Oh advocated amending the Civil Act to convert the principle of in-kind return to value-based return in order to resolve the complex issue of returning the minimum portions of inheritance. Meanwhile, Professor Hyun Jin Kim said that the provision that allows all gifts made by the decedent to be included in the base property for calculating the minimum reserve of inheritance regardless of the time of the gift imposes an undue burden on the person obligated to return such reserve and suggested limiting the time period for the inclusion of gifts and introducing a system of prior waiver of the minimum reserve of inheritance.
Next, Attorney Ji Su Choi (43, 37th) of LIN presented on 'Changes and Prospects in the Field of Inheritance'. “If the Civil Act is amended following the Constitutional Court’s recent decision of unconstitutionality, whether there is a reason for the loss of the legal reserve of inheritance, such as long-term abandonment or mental and physical abuse of the decedent, and whether to consider the heir who contributed by supporting the decedent, are expected to emerge as key issues in litigations regarding the return of the minimum reserve of inheritance,” said Choi. “From a practitioner's perspective, it is expected that the claims of contribution will be much more sophisticated in the future, further increasing the level of difficulty of such litigations.”
Choi's presentation was followed by a discussion with Soo Jung Kim, professor at Myungji University School of Law, Won Jong Hoon, head of KB Bank's Gangnam Star PB Center, and Yoon Jin Soo, professor emeritus at Seoul National University School of Law.
Professor Kim introduced the cases of Germany, France, and Japan, which operate pre-waiver systems of the legal reserve of inheritance and suggested that we should compare their systems and find ways to apply them to Korea.
Won introduced testamentary trusts, emphasizing that they are an effective alternative to wills and can be designed in a variety of ways.
Professor Yoon said that, as Chairman of the Ministry of Justice's Special Committee on Family Law, he is thinking about the timing of the retroactive application of the revised law and looks forward to gathering wisdom through discussions like today's.
Please see below for the original article and presentation materials.
Law Times
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