HwaWoo Establishes "Senior Care Division" for Asset Management Tailored to a Super-Aged Society

Designing a Dignified Retirement
for Single-Person Households, DINKs,
and Dementia Preparedness

HwaWoo, a law firm, announced on April 20 that it has established a Senior Care Division within its Asset Management Center in anticipation of Korea entering a super-aged society. The Senior Care Division plans to provide a "total life care" service, not just simple legal advisory, targeting parents who wish to take care of their own retirement without relying on their children, single-person households without children, and DINK (dual income, no kids) couples.

Members of HwaWoo's 'Elderly Care Headquarters.' (From left) Lawyer Sora Yang, Lawyer Mirim Yoon, Senior Specialist Jeongsik Bae, Senior Specialist Hyeonjeong Park. HwaWoo

According to HwaWoo, the greatest strength of its Senior Care Division lies in its personnel. Senior Specialists Jeongsik Bae and Hyunjung Park, who pioneered the "will substitute trust" market in the Korean financial sector for the first time at Hana Bank, will design optimized trust structures. Leading the division is Attorney Sora Yang (Judicial Research and Training Institute, 37th class), an expert who has resolved complex will executions and inheritance disputes for conglomerate families. Attorney Mirim Yoon (38th class), a former chief judge at the Family Court who has directly handled numerous inheritance disputes and guardianship cases over about 10 years, has also joined the division.

The most distinctive feature of HwaWoo’s Senior Care Division is the triple-layered structure that combines voluntary guardianship contracts, trusts, and wills. In the past, voluntary guardianship, even with court supervision, required reliance on the integrity or competence of a single guardian. To address this, HwaWoo offers a service managed not by people, but by a system.

In other words, by appropriately utilizing "trusts" and "wills" to manage and transfer assets, the structure ensures that the guardian is dedicated to their essential role of personal protection and daily care. Details such as the level of care desired in the event of dementia, preferred care facilities, and the scope of consent for medical procedures are meticulously recorded to ensure that retirement is secured in accordance with the individual’s wishes.

The Senior Care Division within HwaWoo’s Asset Management Center is open to anyone wishing to manage their own later years. Regardless of whether they have children, individuals can safeguard their retirement and property rights through legal preparation. The goal is to provide a one-stop service that ensures a dignified life during one’s lifetime and the proper distribution of assets after death without disputes.

Myeongsoo Lee, Managing Partner at HwaWoo, stated, “The transition to a super-aged society demands a paradigm shift in legal services that goes beyond simple inheritance and covers every stage of life. Through the Senior Care Division, HwaWoo will provide integrated solutions encompassing both asset management and personal protection, supporting clients to maintain their desired lifestyle until the very end.”

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