중혼적 사실혼 배우자의 산업재해보상보험법상 유족급여 수급권 - 서울고등법원 2021. 9. 8. 선고 2020누48149 판결을 중심으로 -

The Seoul High Court Decision 2020Nu48149 dated September 8, 2021 (hereinafter “the decision”) touched upon the issue of whether a spouse in a bigamous de facto marital relationship is entitled to a survivors’ benefits under Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (hereinafter “the Act”). The said issue had been dealt with in the past few Supreme Court decisions; but the past decisions failed to present a consistent rule applicable to the issue. The decision recognized the right of a spouse in a bigamous de facto marital relationship to a survivors’ benefits under the Act, and the Supreme Court approved the decision by dismissing the appeal filed by the plaintiff. In this paper, I argued that a bigamous de facto marital relationship might stand valid, under circumstances where (a) the spouses of (former) legal marriage had not cohabited with each other for considerable amount of time, and (b) the spouses had reached mutual agreement on divorce. I also maintained that a spouse in a bigamous de facto marital relationship might claim his/her right even when the spouses of legal marriage had failed to reach agreement on divorce, considering the purpose of specific provisions of law which stipulate the right of a spouse. With due consideration for the purpose of the Act, I think the spouse in a bigamous de facto marital relationship is entitled to a survivors’ benefits under the Act. The decision acknowledged that the (former) legal marital relationship was de facto dissolved in the given case, although the spouses of the legal marriage did not seem to have agreed to divorce, and properly recognized the right of the spouse in a bigamous de facto marital relationship.