Constitutional Court, "Law Needed to Enforce Child Support Payments" Constitutional Complaint Dismissed... "Law Already Exists"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Constitutional Court has rejected a constitutional complaint claiming that the lack of laws to enforce child support payments from divorced former spouses infringes on basic rights.

On the 23rd, the Constitutional Court unanimously dismissed the constitutional complaint filed by Mr. A and others, who argued that "South Korea's child support system is so deficient that it can be considered virtually lawless," seeking a ruling that the legislature's inaction is unconstitutional.

Legislative inaction refers to cases where the Constitution explicitly delegates the enactment of laws to the legislature to guarantee citizens' basic rights, but the legislature fails to enact such laws.

The Court dismissed the petition, stating, "The obligation to legislate specific and individual matters such as a child support advance payment system does not newly arise under constitutional interpretation simply because the enforcement of child support falls short of the petitioners' expectations beyond existing legislation."

It further noted, "The Constitution only stipulates the state's general duty to protect marriage and family, and does not impose a specific and explicit legislative obligation to facilitate enforcement when a child support debtor fails to comply despite having obtained an enforcement order for child support claims," adding, "No other constitutional provisions provide for such specific and explicit legislative delegation as claimed by the petitioners."

Mr. A and others filed the constitutional complaint in February 2019. They are parents raising children after divorce and have the right to receive child support from the other party. However, they argued that there are no effective remedies when the other party fails to pay or only partially pays child support.

Lee Jun-young, CEO and lead attorney of KNK representing Mr. A and others, stated, "The state's implementation of a child support advance payment system would eliminate conflicts between custodial and non-custodial parents and prevent children from suffering emotional harm caused by parental disputes."

Although the Family Litigation Act and the Child Support Enforcement Act stipulate various procedures and support systems for enforcing child support, they are not practically effective in securing child support.

They also argued that laws including specific measures such as a state child support advance payment system, public disclosure of non-payers' identities, travel bans, and driver's license restrictions are necessary, but the absence of such laws results in violations of basic rights.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.