Goo Hara's absentee mother could still be entitled to half of her estate, pending action on the Goo Hara Act filed before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly.
It can be recalled that Goo Hara's brother Goo Ho In lodged a petition before the National Assembly calling for the disqualification of parents who abandoned their children from inheriting their properties. The petition which was signed by 100,000 supporters was submitted to a standing committee of the National Assembly last April 3.
The Goo Hara Act came amid the claims of the singer's absentee mom to half of her assets after Goo Hara's death last November, Kpopstarz reported.
In his statement, Goo Ho In said that he was compelled to file the petition for the Goo Hara Act so that abandoned children would not have to go through the pain that his family was going through. While mourning for the death of his sister, Ho In said that their mother who left them since Hara was seven years old, reappeared to claim her share of the inheritance. Under the current law, biological parents get first preference in the inheritance of the deceased properties, regardless of the role they played in raising their children.
Goo Hara's brother said that he knew that if the legislation was passed, it would not be applied to the inheritance division dispute that his family was involved in but it could help other abandoned children protect their assets against their negligent parents.
While the Goo Hara Act was well supported by the public, the bill was scrapped by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly during the first conference held last May 19 due to lack of time to evaluate.
However, Goo Ho In's lawyers have said that they have not lost all hope that the law will eventually be passed because there were members of the committee who agreed that the civil law, especially the inheritance system needed to be reviewed, Soompi reported.
Lawyer Noh Jong Eon said that they will continue to improve the petition to get it passed by the National Assembly to benefit Koreans who are caught in a similar situation.
He explained that the reason the bill was set aside was because of the volume of bills pending before the assembly and the lack of time to evaluate them.
The lawyer added that Assembly member Seo Young Gyo of the Democratic Party of Korea also submitted an amendment that was similar to the Goo Hara Act. With the improvements they prepared and the amendments introduced by the assemblyman, Noh explained that they will have a better chance to get the bill passed in the 21st National Assembly.
