상속인 아닌 보험수익자가 생명보험금을 수령한 경우 상속인의 유류분 산정의 기초재산 결정에 관한 민법 및 보험법의 조화로운 해석 -대법원 2022. 8. 11. 선고 2020다247428 판결에 대한 비판적 검토를 중심으로-

Abstract

The Supreme Court Decision 2020Da247428 Decided August 11, 2022 suggests an interpretation theory on whether the policyholder's heir can claim the legal reserve of inheritance against the insurance beneficiary, not the heir who received the death benefit under the life insurance contract. In this paper, the basic laws of insurance law and civil law were reviewed on the issue of receiving insurance benefits and calculation of legal reserve of inheritance from non-heirs in the target judgment, and based on this, a critical review of the target judgment and a reasonable interpretation theory were presented. First of all, in terms of insurance law, life insurance received by an insurance beneficiary who is not heir under a life insurance contract, corresponds to the insurance beneficiary's own property under the insurance contract, so it is not included in the basic property for calculation of legal reserve of inheritance. However, in terms of civil law, the beneficiary acquires life insurance through insurance contracts maintained with the contribution of policyholders, so how to view the relationship in return between policyholder and insurance beneficiary may affect the determination of basic property included in the basic property for calculation of legal reserve of inheritance. The authors viewed the relationship in return between the policyholder and the insurance beneficiary as unilateral act in which the policyholder grants the status of the insurance beneficiary to a third party. According to this conclusion, it is neither the policyholder's inherited property nor the property donated to the insurance beneficiary that the beneficiary of insurance received the death benefit. Therefore, in this case, there is no problem of determining the basic property of calculation of legal reserve of inheritance. The fact that the target judgment included the relationship in return between the policyholder and the insurance beneficiary as a gift in the basic property of calculation of legal reserve of inheritance is considered to be an interpretation theory with problems in the basic legal principles of the insurance law and civil law. The interpretation of legal acts should be interpreted strictly as much as possible in the meaning of the prescribed text. And if there is no regulation, an interpretation theory should be derived based on the basic concept. Of course, it is necessary to interpret it in consideration of practical aspects such as equity between the two parties in legal relations between individuals. However, in terms of legal stability, it is rather reasonable to present an interpretation theory that conforms to the legal form or basic concept.