Kim Min-hee faces inheritance issues due to Hong Sang-soo's marriage

The legal status of the son born to actress Kim Min-hee and film director Hong Sang-soo, along with the couple's future inheritance prospects, is drawing renewed attention. Although the two have lived as a family for a long time, the legal rights applied to the child and Kim Min-hee differ significantly because Hong maintains a legal marriage.

Kim Min-hee gave birth to a son with Hong last April. After focusing on childcare, she recently resumed her professional activities through Hong's new work, appearing in public with him for the first time since giving birth at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland this August.

With the birth of their child, interest has naturally expanded to their family relationship and inheritance issues. The key variable is the fact that Hong's legal marriage remains intact to this day.

Hong married a woman he met during his studies in the United States in 1985, and they have one daughter. In November 2016, he filed for divorce, but the Seoul Family Court dismissed his request in 2019. Hong did not appeal the ruling, meaning his legal marriage with his spouse continues to exist.

Under this legal situation, the son born to Kim Min-hee and Hong falls under the category of a "child born out of wedlock."

A child born out of wedlock refers to a child born when the parents are not legally married. While the biological relationship between a mother and child is established upon birth, a separate legal procedure is required between a biological father and the child. The critical mechanism here is "recognition."

If the biological father recognizes the child as his own, a legal parent-child relationship is established. Subsequently, the child is not merely a biological relative but gains various rights as a legal child.

Lawyer Yang Na-rae, an expert in divorce, explained in an interview with TV Chosun that Kim Min-hee can register her son's birth even while unmarried; if Hong subsequently recognizes him as his biological child, a legal father-son relationship can be established.

This distinction is even more critical regarding inheritance.

If Hong legally recognizes the son, the child will not be excluded from inheritance simply because he was born out of wedlock. Under the Civil Act, if a child born out of wedlock establishes a legal parent-child relationship through recognition, they hold inheritance rights as a lineal descendant.

Therefore, if both the daughter from Hong's existing marriage and the son born from his relationship with Kim Min-hee are recognized as legal children, both can become heirs. The son's inheritance rights are not restricted simply because of his circumstances of birth.

On the other hand, Kim Min-hee's legal status is entirely different.

Even if Kim and Hong live together in a common-law relationship and raise their child together, they are not legally married spouses. In principle, a partner in a common-law relationship does not acquire the inheritance rights granted to a legal spouse.

In the structure of statutory inheritance, a spouse becomes a co-heir with lineal descendants and receives a certain addition to the descendant's share. However, a common-law spouse does not hold the same status as a legal spouse.

Therefore, in the event of Hong's death, the son can become an heir as a lineal descendant if a legal parent-child relationship is established, but Kim Min-hee herself would not become a statutory heir simply due to their common-law relationship.

Because of this, expressions such as "Kim Min-hee will be left penniless if Hong Sang-soo dies" tend to oversimplify the legal reality. To be precise, it means that Kim Min-hee's statutory inheritance rights as a legal spouse are not automatically recognized. Depending on actual property relations, other legal variables such as lifetime gifts or wills may exist.

Ultimately, the most important figure is the son born to Kim Min-hee and Hong Sang-soo. If Hong legally recognizes the parent-child relationship, the son will hold the status of a legal child just like the existing daughter and can exercise his rights as a lineal descendant in future inheritance.

This illustrates that marriage systems and blood relations do not necessarily produce the same legal results. While for a child, the establishment of a legal parent-child relationship is paramount, for an adult partner, the legal form of marriage remains the deciding factor for inheritance rights.

Hong and Kim first met as director and actress through the 2015 film "The Most Likely Scenario." Their relationship became public in 2016, sparking significant social controversy, and Hong publicly stated the following year that they were in a relationship.

At the time, Hong's wife maintained that she had no intention of divorcing. Although Hong filed for divorce, the court's refusal to grant it meant their legal marriage remained intact.

Nearly 10 years later, Hong and Kim are raising their son together. At a recent film festival, Kim noted that her filming environment has changed since giving birth, as she has been bringing her son to sets to balance filming with breastfeeding and childcare.

As their relationship continues and their child grows, public interest has shifted from past romantic controversies to more practical legal issues: the child's legal status and Kim Min-hee's position within a common-law relationship.

The core of the matter lies in the fact that the emotional question of "who is family" and the legal question of "who is a statutory heir" do not always yield the same answer. Regardless of the nature of Hong and Kim's relationship, how the current legal system applies marriage and parentage to inheritance will be the deciding factor in their future estate matters.