유류분반환청구권에 관한 고찰 - 법적 성질 및 시효 소멸에 관한 논의를 중심으로 - (A Study on the Forced Share and its Negative Prescription)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국외국어대학교 법학연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 외법논집 / 30호 / 127 ~ 167페이지
· 저자명 : 정소민

초록

An heir is entitled to the forced share of an estate under the civil code of Korea. This right describes reserved proportions of an estate which the heir may claim in case where what she inherits is less than a certain percentage (ranging from 1/2 to 1/3) of her statutory portion due to the donation or will of the decedent. The forced share has been widely adopted by various countries, including Germany, France and Japan. From the law and economics perspective, however, the forced share under the civil code of Korea is not a suitable system given that financial status of an heir is not taken into account in determining her forced share. In addition, unlike civil codes of other countries, the civil code of Korea does not provide in detail legal nature of the forced share nor legal implications of exercise of such right. In this connection, it will be reasonable and desirable that the heir's forced share should be interpreted to be a right to claim certain proportions of the estate, not a right to make donations or wills of the decedent null and void retroactively and restitute to the heir the ownership of the assets donated to a third party.
In addition, under the civil code of Korea, prescriptive period of such right is one year from the date on which the decedent passed away and the heir has become aware of the donation or will of the decedent which adversely affects her forced share. Furthermore, such right is time-barred after a period of ten years from the date on which the decedent died. According to the supreme court cases of Korea, when the heir is provided with an original document of the will of the decedent or when the final court decision is made that the donation or will of the decedent is legally effective (in case where the original document is not provided to the heir), it is interpreted that the heir becomes aware of the donation or will of the decedent which adversely affects her forced share.
Given the increasing number of legal disputes on the forced share, the civil code of Korea should be amended to redesign the forced share, reflecting the needs and changes of the Korean society.

영어초록

An heir is entitled to the forced share of an estate under the civil code of Korea. This right describes reserved proportions of an estate which the heir may claim in case where what she inherits is less than a certain percentage (ranging from 1/2 to 1/3) of her statutory portion due to the donation or will of the decedent. The forced share has been widely adopted by various countries, including Germany, France and Japan. From the law and economics perspective, however, the forced share under the civil code of Korea is not a suitable system given that financial status of an heir is not taken into account in determining her forced share. In addition, unlike civil codes of other countries, the civil code of Korea does not provide in detail legal nature of the forced share nor legal implications of exercise of such right. In this connection, it will be reasonable and desirable that the heir's forced share should be interpreted to be a right to claim certain proportions of the estate, not a right to make donations or wills of the decedent null and void retroactively and restitute to the heir the ownership of the assets donated to a third party.
In addition, under the civil code of Korea, prescriptive period of such right is one year from the date on which the decedent passed away and the heir has become aware of the donation or will of the decedent which adversely affects her forced share. Furthermore, such right is time-barred after a period of ten years from the date on which the decedent died. According to the supreme court cases of Korea, when the heir is provided with an original document of the will of the decedent or when the final court decision is made that the donation or will of the decedent is legally effective (in case where the original document is not provided to the heir), it is interpreted that the heir becomes aware of the donation or will of the decedent which adversely affects her forced share.
Given the increasing number of legal disputes on the forced share, the civil code of Korea should be amended to redesign the forced share, reflecting the needs and changes of the Korean society.

참고자료

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