Seoul Rehabilitation Court Expands Support for Vulnerable Groups in Personal Rehabilitation... Activates Litigation Assistance

The Seoul Rehabilitation Court has taken steps to revitalize the litigation support system that assists socially vulnerable groups who find it difficult to secure the costs necessary for filing and proceeding with personal rehabilitation cases.

Seoul Rehabilitation Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 8th, the Seoul Rehabilitation Court reappointed five designated litigation support attorneys and additionally appointed five litigation support attorneys last month on the 19th to promote the litigation support system for personal rehabilitation cases.

The litigation support system is designed to support socially vulnerable groups lacking the financial capacity to cover procedural costs, such as basic livelihood security recipients, persons with disabilities, national merit recipients, single-parent families, and individuals aged 60 or older. It provides assistance with attorney fees, delivery charges, and bankruptcy trustee appointment costs necessary from application preparation to filing and procedural progress.

Earlier, the Supreme Court revised the "Regulations on the Operation of the Litigation Support System" for personal insolvency procedures in September last year, expanding the eligibility for litigation support from "60% or less of the standard median income" to "75% or less of the standard median income."

Before the revision, litigation support was difficult in personal rehabilitation cases where the debtor was presumed to have income to repay creditors, even after deducting the minimum living expenses calculated based on "60% or less of the standard median income."

A representative of the Seoul Rehabilitation Court stated, “As personal rehabilitation cases have been rapidly increasing since last year, we expect that with the expansion of the litigation support scope, litigation support will be extended not only to personal bankruptcy cases but also to personal rehabilitation cases.”

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