The eldest son, who filed a lawsuit to invalidate his father’s will, saying he would give a large amount of property to the university, after he was diagnosed with dementia, was made and lost.
Recently, the 26th Civil Settlement Division (Chief Heo Myeong-san) of the Seoul Central District Court ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit to confirm the invalidity of a will filed by his son A against a corporation of Seoul National University and others.
In March 2014, Mr A’s father wrote a notarial deed stating that, after his death, he gave an apartment in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and land in Namyangju and Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, to Seoul National University, and Mr A’s younger A. a brother would be responsible for disposing of the property.
When his father died in 2020, Mr A’s younger brother transferred ownership of the property to Seoul National University in accordance with his father’s will. Mr. A then filed a lawsuit to confirm the invalidity of the will in 2021, saying, “My father was diagnosed with dementia in 2009 and did not have the capacity to make decisions at the time of writing the will, so cancel the will. register transfer of ownership.”
In addition, Mr A is said to have claimed that “my younger brother used his father by transferring over 1 billion won to the university hospital to receive a favorable decision.”
Previously, in 2010, Mr. And also a request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily prohibit the disposal to prevent the disposal of his younger brother’s property, but the court refused that.
At the time, the father attended the questioning date, and said, “I have two sons, and the eldest son (Mr. A) is a professor at a medical school, but it is painful because he opposes me as unfaithful child. Except for the property I gave to my son, I intend to return everything to society.”
The judge said, “The deceased (father) was not in a state of permanent loss of mind or body nor in a state of permanent inability to handle office work due to mental limitations. The statement of the deceased (from the date of questioning for the request for a provision in 2010) generally corresponds to the facts and clearly expresses his intention,” he acknowledged his father’s ability to make a will.
In addition, based on the diagnosis result of Seoul National University Hospital in 2011 that ‘there are symptoms such as anxiety and depression, but there is no need for treatment for cognitive impairment’, “It can be said that the doctor’s ability was rejected in 2014, about the time the will was written due to the medical history in 2009. He added, “The will was drawn up in the manner prescribed by the civil law, and there is no benefit if Mr. A’s younger brother gave his father’s property to the University.”
Donga.com reporter Song Chi-hoon sch53@donga.com
