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🇰🇷 South Korea /Crime & Justice

Supreme Court Upholds Validity of Oral Will by Patient on Life Support

From Hankyoreh · (5m ago) Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • The Supreme Court ruled that a patient on life support could make a valid oral will, overturning a lower court's decision.
  • The case involved a dispute over whether the oral will, made under duress, was necessary given alternative methods.
  • The court found the patient's condition, including difficulty speaking due to a respirator, made alternative will-making methods impractical.

The Supreme Court's recent decision to recognize the validity of an oral will made by a patient on life support is a significant victory for the recognition of individual intent in critical situations. This ruling, which overturns a lower court's decision, affirms that even under severe physical duress, a person's final wishes can and should be honored.

The Supreme Court 2nd division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) overturned the appellate court's ruling of no victory for the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by Mr. A against Woori Bank on deposits and sent the case back to the Seoul Central District Court on the 4th.

— Supreme CourtThis quote details the Supreme Court's decision to send the case back to a lower court, indicating a reversal of the previous judgment.

The case centered on a patient who, while hospitalized and reliant on a respirator, expressed a desire to bequeath their entire estate to a specific individual. The bank, however, challenged the validity of this "spoken will," arguing that other, more formal methods of will creation were available and should have been used. This stance, while perhaps legally cautious, risked invalidating the patient's clear intent simply because of the circumstances.

The Supreme Court's intervention is crucial. It acknowledges the practical realities faced by individuals in critical care. The patient's documented difficulty in speaking due to the respirator and the need for assistance in recording their wishes were key factors. The court rightly recognized that forcing a patient in such a state to adhere to rigid, formalistic requirements could effectively deny them the right to make a will at all.

The court found that the deceased, at the time of the oral will, had difficulty speaking normally due to respiratory distress and was using a respirator, making it difficult to independently write a will in their own handwriting or record their voice to state their will, name, and date.

— Supreme CourtThis quote explains the reasoning behind the Supreme Court's decision, highlighting the patient's physical condition as a factor in allowing the oral will.

This ruling provides a vital precedent, ensuring that the spirit of a person's final wishes is not lost to procedural technicalities. It underscores the principle that the law must adapt to the realities of human vulnerability, particularly in life-or-death situations. For families and individuals facing similar circumstances, this decision offers a measure of reassurance that their loved ones' intentions will be given due consideration.

There is a mistake in the ruling that misunderstands the principle of subsidiarity of spoken wills or the effect of wills.

— Supreme CourtThis quote directly states the Supreme Court's finding that the lower court erred in its legal interpretation.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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