Child Support from a Parent in Korea — Handled While You Live Abroad
New claims, modifications, and enforcement in Korean family courts. Full remote representation in English — no travel required.
When the other parent lives, works, or holds assets in Korea, the Korean family court is often the forum where a child support obligation can actually be established — and actually collected. Yeohae Law Firm represents parents living in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and across Asia in Korean child support and related family claims, without requiring you to travel to Korea.
After reviewing a short written summary of your situation, we respond with a case assessment and a written fee proposal, so you can decide with the full picture in front of you.
What We Handle
- First-time child support claims — establishing a support obligation in the Korean family court against a parent residing or earning in Korea, including cases where the parents were never married (parentage can be established first).
- Modification of existing support — seeking an increase where income, exchange rates, or the child's needs have changed materially since the original decision or agreement.
- Enforcement of Korean orders — performance orders, direct-payment orders deducted from the paying parent's salary, property disclosure procedures, and sanctions for non-compliance.
- Enforcement of foreign support orders in Korea — assessment of whether your existing judgment meets Korean recognition requirements, and where it does, obtaining a Korean enforcement judgment so Korean collection tools apply.
- Post-divorce financial claims — property division and consolation money claims where the respondent or the assets are located in Korea. Strict statutory deadlines apply to some of these claims, so early assessment matters.
- Locating income and assets — using court-based inquiry procedures to identify the paying parent's employer, accounts, and property in Korea.
How Remote Representation Works
Why a Korean Proceeding Is Often Worth Assessing
A support order is only as good as its enforcement. Where the paying parent's salary, bank accounts, or real estate are in Korea, a Korean order — or a foreign order given effect in Korea — puts those assets within reach of Korean enforcement procedures, including deduction at source from wages. Korean law has also strengthened measures against serious defaulters in recent years, such as driver's licence suspension, exit bans, and public disclosure in qualifying cases.
Outcomes always depend on the paying parent's actual income and assets. That is why our process starts with an honest collectability assessment rather than a filing.
Frequently Asked Questions
A. In most cases, yes. The engagement and power of attorney can be completed remotely, filings and hearings are handled by your Korean counsel, and updates are provided in English. Some procedures may ask for a party's statement, but written submissions or other alternatives are often available — this is assessed for your specific case before you commit.
A. Yes. Where legal parentage is not yet established, Korean law allows paternity to be established through acknowledgment or a court action, and a child support claim can then follow in the family court. Both steps can be run as one coordinated strategy.
A. A foreign judgment can be enforced in Korea if it meets the recognition requirements of Korean law — including finality, proper jurisdiction and service, consistency with public policy, and reciprocity — followed by a Korean enforcement judgment. Whether your order qualifies, or whether filing a fresh Korean claim is faster, is exactly what we assess first.
A. Korean family courts have concrete enforcement tools: performance orders, direct-payment orders deducting support from salary, property disclosure procedures, and monetary sanctions. Korean law has also strengthened measures against serious defaulters in recent years — including driver's licence suspension, exit bans, and public disclosure — subject to statutory requirements.
Pyoung-ho Kim (김평호) · Attorney at Law · Korean Bar Association · Judicial Research & Training Institute, 43rd Class · 2021 Outstanding Attorney Award · 500+ cases handled since 2014
Request a Fee Proposal
Send a short summary of your situation — the relationship, the child, any existing order, and what you know about the other parent in Korea. We reply in English with a case assessment and a written fee proposal.
Email Your Case Summary → WhatsApp