The “GOO HARA LAW” will finally come into effect next year.
On December 30, the Supreme Court announced the major changes to judicial systems scheduled for the first half of 2026.
This includes the law commonly referred to as the “GOO HARA LAW”.
The “GOO HARA LAW” drew attention when GOO HO IN, the brother of the late GOO HARA, who tragically passed away in 2019, filed a legislative petition in March 2020, stating:
“The biological mother who abandoned GOO HARA when she was a child and disappeared for 20 years without any contact is now trying to take half of the inheritance. Please make sure that my sister’s death is not in vain.”
Subsequently, the “GOO HARA LAW” was proposed during the 20th and 21st National Assembly sessions but was discarded upon the expiration of their terms due to political conflicts between parties. Eventually, it passed the plenary session stage of the National Assembly during the 22nd legislature.
This revision stipulates that in cases where a legal heir failed to fulfill their duty of support toward the deceased or committed serious crimes such as abuse, a “loss of inheritance rights” may be applied, thereby restricting inheritance rights. For the loss of inheritance rights to take effect, a request must be filed either by the deceased through a will or by co-heirs, and it must be approved by the family court.
In this regard, in 2020, the second family division of the Gwangju Family Court issued a partially favorable ruling in the inheritance division lawsuit filed by GOO HO IN against the biological mother, Ms. Song. Attorney Noh Jong Eon, legal representative of GOO HO IN, stated: “The court ruled that the contribution of GOO HARA’s bereaved family should be set at 20%, and that the inheritance would be divided according to a 6-to-4 ratio.”
Attorney Noh Jong Eon explained: “In single-parent families where one parent raises the child alone, prevailing case law generally did not recognize a contributory share,” adding: “Under the current legal system, the court’s decision, which acknowledged a contributory share after considering all circumstances even though the ‘GOO HARA LAW’ had not yet been enacted, represents progress compared to previous court positions.”
The late GOO HARA passed away on November 24, 2019, at the age of 28. She is laid to rest at Sky Castle Memorial Park in Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Subsequently, her family and many others commemorated the first anniversary of her passing on November 24 of this year.
The “GOO HARA LAW” returned to the forefront following the artist’s death through her older brother. According to GOO HO IN, GOO HARA’s biological mother ran away when GOO HARA was 9 years old and gave no sign of life for 20 years, then allegedly appeared at the funeral accompanied by a lawyer after GOO HARA’s death, attempting to claim her assets, a testimony that drew significant attention.
Ultimately, GOO HO IN filed an inheritance division lawsuit against the biological mother who had failed to fulfill her parental duties, and alongside Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Seo Young Kyo, actively led efforts for the enactment of the “GOO HARA LAW”, whose core principle is that parents who abandoned the upbringing of their children should not be able to inherit their assets.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: Korean Media
