Actor Kim Min-hee and filmmaker Hong Sang-soo have recently welcomed a son, raising questions about the legal inheritance rights of the illegitimate child.
According to the film industry on the 9th, Kim Min-hee has reportedly stayed at a postpartum care center in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, after giving birth to her son.
The issue is that Hong Sang-soo is not legally divorced from his current wife. In this situation, their child could either be registered solely under Kim Min-hee's family register or as an illegitimate child in Hong Sang-soo's family register. Following the abolition of the head of household system in 2008 and its replacement with the family relationship registration system, Kim Min-hee can report the birth of her child as an unmarried individual.
To register the child as an illegitimate offspring of Hong Sang-soo, a recognition procedure must be followed. If Hong Sang-soo goes through the recognition claim process, the child's family relationship certificate will list Kim Min-hee as the mother and Hong Sang-soo as the father. Although the spouse listed on Hong Sang-soo's family relationship register will not be Kim Min-hee but his legal wife, the illegitimate child will be registered as Hong Sang-soo's child.
In January, during an appearance on YTN Radio's "Consultation Room with Lawyer Jo In-seop," lawyer Park Kyung-nae noted, "Because Kim Min-hee and Hong Sang-soo are not in a legal marriage, the child born between them is not a child born within a marriage," predicting that "it would report the birth as Kim Min-hee's child."
He also explained, "Subsequently, Hong Sang-soo will become a father through the recognition process," adding that "before the abolition of the head of household system, the father had to report the birth (even for illegitimate children) to register on the father's family register."
The couple's child will also have legal inheritance rights. The legal explanation is that children born within a legal marriage and illegitimate children have the same rights. During the broadcast, lawyer Kim Mi-ru stated, "The inheritance ratio is basically 1.5 for a spouse and 1 for the children."
However, lawyer Kim Mi-ru added, "Since several aspects must be considered during inheritance, the ratio is not absolute," indicating that "if Hong Sang-soo leaves a will stating that he wants to give his entire estate to Kim Min-hee and the illegitimate child, the legal spouse will only be able to claim their portion of the inheritance, which could amount to only 50% of the legal inheritance share."
Kim Min-hee and Hong Sang-soo have an age difference of 22 years and met during the filming of the movie "Right Now, Wrong Then" in 2015. Hong Sang-soo officially revealed their romantic relationship at the press screening of "On the Beach at Night Alone" in 2017, stating, "We are in love with each other."
Hong Sang-soo has a daughter from his marriage to his wife in 1985. He filed for divorce mediation against his wife in 2016, but the process was thwarted when his wife effectively refused to receive related documents, and he lost the divorce lawsuit in 2019. Hong Sang-soo has been cohabiting with Kim Min-hee while maintaining his legal marital status without appealing the decision.