채무초과인 경우의 재산분할 허용 여부

It's been a controversial issue whether property division in divorce lawsuit is permissible in a case where the married couple's total negative property exceeds the total positive property. As the foregoing precedents of Supreme Court on this issue were often criticised for their ambiguous application scope and irrationality of conclusions, judges in lawer courts have been tried to seek various solutions to overcome those problems. Considering the fundamental nature and idea of the property division system, equity of husband and wife, practical demands and necessity, and the non-contentious nature of property division cases, it is reasonable to allow such property division claims in principle, with breaking from the conventional understanding about the property division system. On June 20, 2013 the Supreme Court made a drastic decisions to completely allow the property division claim in such cases, overruling the precedents to the contrary. It has great significance for establishing an epoch-making foundation to pursue conjugal and gender equality substantially. With this, the judges got to fully regain their discretion and freedom to be able to give the most reasonable and appropriate conclusions in all property division cases. However, it is still necessary to accumulate future rulings to resolve the follow-up legal issues including the precise meaning of those legal principles, the permission standard for debt division, and the propriety and effectiveness of specific division method, especially in debt division.