Will Goo Hara Act Finally Pass National Assembly? Constitutional Court Calls It Unconstitutional For Parents Who Abandoned Their Children To Inherit Property

On April 25th, the legal community announced that the Constitutional Court had reached a unanimous decision declaring Article 1112, Section 4 of the Civil Code as unconstitutional on the same day.

The Constitutional Court found it challenging to justify granting inheritance rights to siblings of the deceased, despite their minimal contribution to the formation of the inherited property or their expectations about the property.

The existing Civil Code mandates that family members are entitled to a specific portion of the assets left by the deceased.

Furthermore, the Constitutional Court deemed the regulations of Article 1112, Paragraphs 1 to 3 of the Civil Code, governing inheritance for direct lineal ascendants & descendants (parents, children) and spouses of the deceased, to be unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court concluded that it goes against the principles of justice and common sense to award inheritance to family members who have previously neglected or mistreated the deceased.

Despite social changes, the inheritance system has been criticized for its failure to keep up, as seen in the controversy surrounding the inheritance rights of the estranged mother of the late singer Goo Hara.

Despite being proposed in the 20th National Assembly, the “Goo Hara Act”that restricts the power to request inheritance was ultimately not passed due to the end of the session. It remains pending in the 21st National Assembly without any progress.

In April 2020, a petition was submitted on the National Assembly’s public petition website advocating for the “Goo Hara Act.”This proposed amendment to the Civil Code aimed to include cases of disqualification for inheritance in situations of severe neglect of the duty to support direct lineal ascendants and descendants, as well as to simplify the criteria for acknowledging contributions. The petition received support from more than 100,000 individuals.

The main focus is currently on the potential passing of the Goo Hara Act through the National Assembly after the decision made by the Constitutional Court.

The source can be found at Daum.