Short answer. There is a specific remedy for it. Article 839-3 of the Civil Act lets you ask the family court to set aside a transaction your spouse entered into knowing it would defeat your claim to division of property, and to restore the position. It is a court application with its own deadline, not something that happens automatically when the divorce is decided, and it has to be brought within the period that applies to the equivalent creditor’s revocation action.
What Korean law says
Article 839-3(1): where one spouse has entered into a juristic act concerning property rights while knowing that it would prejudice the other spouse’s exercise of the claim for division of property, the other spouse may apply to the family court for revocation of that act and for restoration to the original state, applying Article 406(1).
Article 839-3(2): that action must be brought within the period in Article 406(2).
The claim it protects is the one in Article 839-2: either party may claim division of property, and where there is no agreement the family court fixes the amount and method taking into account the property built up through the cooperation of both parties and other circumstances. Article 839-2(3) extinguishes that claim two years after the divorce.
Civil Act, Articles 839-2 and 839-3, which applies Article 406. Act No. 21454, in force from 17 March 2026. The limitation period is the one set by Article 406(2) and should be confirmed for your facts.
What usually happens in practice
The pattern is familiar: property put into a parent’s or sibling’s name, a business restructured, an apartment sold below value to someone close, cash moved out of joint reach, all shortly before or just after separation. The provision is aimed at exactly that, and the element that decides most applications is knowledge — that the spouse knew the transfer would prejudice your division claim.
Timing evidence is what proves knowledge in practice. A transfer that happens within weeks of a separation, of a first consultation, or of a filing is a different proposition from one that happened two years earlier. That is why the dates matter more than the amounts at this stage.
Two deadlines run in parallel and they are not the same. The division claim itself extinguishes two years after the divorce under Article 839-2(3). The revocation action has its own period under Article 406(2). Losing either one loses the remedy, and for a foreign spouse who has left Korea both can pass unnoticed.
Acting early also matters for a practical reason. Once property has moved on to a further purchaser the picture becomes much harder to unwind, whatever the legal position.
What you should do next
- Record what you know now: account numbers, property, business interests, and the dates you last saw them.
- Note the date of any transfer you are aware of. Proximity to separation is what evidences knowledge.
- Do not wait for the divorce to finish before raising it. The remedy is a separate application with its own clock.
- If you are outside Korea, diarise both deadlines rather than relying on being told.
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Written and reviewed by Soobin You, Attorney at YUSU Lawfirm. Former prosecutor. Last legal review: 12 September 2026.