가사사건과 관련된 민사사건의 이송에 관한 법적 고찰 - 가사소송법 전부개정법률안을 중심으로 -

Abstract

According to the current Family Litigation Act, other courts handle civil cases related to the family court. This may result in inconsistent results and delays in the overall process of a trial while the family court waits for the consequences of the civil cases. Due to these characteristics, it has been pointed out that the current act is disadvantageous to spouses who are economically poor and is inadequate for protecting sons and daughters who are minors. Therefore, many argued that it is more desirable for family courts to deal with civil cases related to domestic cases, along with domestic cases. However, mere legal interpretations within the pre-existing legal framework did not adequately resolve such situations. In order to deal with these problems, the Ministry of Justice has prepared a new amendment bill of the Family Litigation Act, which enables transferring civil cases related to domestic cases to domestic courts in order to combine them with domestic cases and treat them together. The amendment contains regulations that facilitate the relocation of a civil case which needs to be resolved along with a domestic case to the family court, when the civil case serves as the basis for judging a domestic case which exists at its first trial in the family court, or when there is a concern that the outcomes of the two cases would become inconsistent or contradictory. According to this amendment, the family court becomes able to merge the transferred civil case with the domestic case, and to make a one-time resolution of the dispute with one judgment. I expect the system, designed to expand the public’s legal accessibility and to advance its benefits, to be able to solve domestic cases and related civil cases altogether, and to help improve the roles and functions of the family court as a court providing guardianship.