同時死亡 推定과 配偶者 代襲相續 - 對象判決 : 大法院 2001.3.9. 선고 99다13157 判決

Presumed Simultaneous Death and the Spouse Succession by Representation

This Case Comment deals with the Supreme Court's Decision of 2001.3.9, 99다 13157. The plaintiffs of this case were the 3rd place inheritors according to Paragraph(1) of Article 1000 of the Korean Civil Codes, who were the brothers and sisters of the inheritee. The defendant, who was the son-in-law of the inheritee, achieved the ownership of real estate in place of his wife, who was the 1st place inheritor but had died, by the succession by representation. The plaintiffs claimed the inheritance should be invalid but it was not accepted by Supreme Court. In this case, what we should reconsider is that the inheritee and his daughter had died by the same accident in which the exact time and the order of two deaths are obscure. It could be presumed that the time of deaths be the same by Article 30 of the Korean Civil Codes. On the other hand, Article 1003 says, "In the case mentioned in Article 1001, the spouse of the deceased or the disqualified person, before the commencement of inheritance, becomes a co-inheritor in the same order as the inheritors provided in the same Article. If there exists no inheritor, the spouse becomes the sole inheritor." So the first issue here is that the 'Succession by Representation by Article 1003' could be applied to the simultaneous death according to Article 30. The 2nd issue is about the Succession by Representation of spouse. I speculates on those two issues reflecting the current Civil Codes and reaches on the conclusion that in the case of simultaneous death, Succession by Representation could be applied and Supreme Court's decision which admitted the sole inheritance of the son-in-law is justified.