Open Decision Ledger · Civil obligations & remedies
Security set before subrogation and the scope of the co-guarantor's recourse debt
Supreme Court, July 16, 2026, 2023Da217428 (judgment)
Case name: 구상금
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where one of joint and several guarantors pays the whole debt by way of subrogation and then receives part of the recourse money from the principal debtor, must that payment first reduce the principal debtor's recourse debt corresponding to the paying guarantor's share, and where real security had been created over the principal debtor's property before that payment, does the sum recovered by executing it reduce the other guarantors' recourse debts as well?
Holding
In principle, the payment reduces first the principal debtor's recourse debt corresponding to the paying guarantor's share, because that guarantor may claim recourse only from the principal debtor for its own share and the other guarantors may not invoke the risk of the principal debtor's insolvency to resist recourse; until that debt is extinguished in full, the other guarantors' recourse debts are untouched. Where, however, real security over the principal debtor's property had been created in the creditor's favour before the subrogation payment, the guarantors bore no insolvency risk as to the amount secured, so the sum recovered by executing that security reduces the principal debtor's recourse debt and, at the same time, the other guarantors' recourse debts in proportion to each burden ratio.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
따라서 주채무자 소유 재산에 관하여 대위변제 전에 채권자 앞으로 물적 담보가 설정되어 있었던 경우에는 대위변제한 연대보증인이 담보권을 실행하여 변제받은 금액이 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시킨다고 볼 수 없는 특별한 사정이 있으므로, 그 변제액은 주채무자의 구상채무를 감소시킴과 동시에 다른 연대보증인들의 구상채무도 각자의 부담비율에 상응하여 감소시킨다고 보아야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
Accordingly, where a security interest in property owned by the principal obligor had been created in favor of the creditor before the payment by subrogation, there are special circumstances such that the amount of payment received by the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation upon executing the security interest cannot be regarded as first reducing the principal obligor's debt for reimbursement, and therefore such amount of payment must be regarded as reducing the principal obligor's debt for reimbursement and, at the same time, also reducing the debts for reimbursement of the other co-sureties in proportion to their respective ratios of burden.
Disposition
Partly reversed and remanded Stated in the decision
원심판결 중 3,480,960,305원 및 이에 대하여 2020. 3. 4.부터 2020. 8. 12.까지는 연 6%의, 그다음 날부터 다 갚는 날까지는 연 12%의 각 비율로 계산한 돈을 초과하여 지급을 명한 피고 패소 부분과 가지급물반환신청에 대한 부분을 파기하고, 이 부분 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The portion of the judgment of the court below in which the defendant lost, ordering payment in excess of 3,480,960,305 won and money calculated at the rate of 6% per annum from March 4, 2020 to August 12, 2020 and 12% per annum from the following day until the day of full payment, together with the portion concerning the application for the return of provisional payments, is reversed, and this part of the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
주채무자의 구상금 일부 변제는 특별한 사정이 없는 한 대위변제를 한 연대보증인의 부담부분에 상응하는 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시키고 이 부분 구상채무가 전부 소멸되기 전까지는 다른 연대보증인들이 부담하는 구상채무의 범위에는 아무런 영향을 미치지 않는 것이 원칙이다
Unofficial English translation
Absent special circumstances, the principal obligor's partial payment of reimbursement first reduces the principal obligor's debt for reimbursement corresponding to the portion of the burden borne by the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation, and the principle is that, until such portion of the debt for reimbursement is extinguished in full, it has no effect whatsoever on the scope of the debts for reimbursement borne by the other co-sureties
Factors
- 대위변제를 한 연대보증인은 자기의 부담부분에 관하여는 다른 연대보증인들로부터는 구상을 받을 수 없고 오로지 주채무자로부터만 구상을 받아야 하므로
- 다른 연대보증인들로서는 주채무자의 무자력 시 주채무자에 대한 재구상권 행사가 곤란해질 위험이 있다는 사정을 내세워 대위변제를 한 연대보증인에 대한 구상채무의 감면을 주장하거나 이행을 거절할 수 없는 점
- 공동연대보증인들은 그 우선변제받을 금액에 관하여 주채무자의 무자력으로 인한 위험을 부담한다고 볼 수 없다
- 그 부분은 대위변제를 한 연대보증인이 주채무자의 무자력으로 인한 위험을 감수하였다고 보기 어렵다
- 이는 당초부터 주채무자의 무자력으로 인한 위험을 부담하였다고 볼 수 없는 부분에 관한 이익을 연대보증인 중 한 사람에게만 전부 귀속시키게 되어 부당하다
Unofficial English translation
• as the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation cannot seek reimbursement from the other co-sureties with respect to the portion of his or her own burden and must seek reimbursement solely from the principal obligor,
• the point that the other co-sureties cannot, by invoking the circumstance that there is a risk that the exercise of the right of further reimbursement against the principal obligor would become difficult in the event of the principal obligor's insolvency, claim a reduction of their debts for reimbursement owed to the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation or refuse performance
• the co-sureties cannot be regarded as bearing the risk arising from the principal obligor's insolvency with respect to the amount subject to preferential payment
• it is difficult to regard the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation as having assumed the risk arising from the principal obligor's insolvency as to that portion
• this would be unfair in that the benefit concerning the portion that cannot be regarded as bearing the risk arising from the principal obligor's insolvency from the outset would be attributed in its entirety to only one of the co-sureties
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2010. 9. 30. 선고 2009다46873 판결 참조
Unofficial English translation
See Supreme Court Decision 2009Da46873 decided September 30, 2010.
Decisions referred to
대법원 2010. 9. 30. 선고 2009다46873 판결(공2010하, 1970)
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
If the real security had been created by a third party over the third party's own property rather than by the principal debtor, would the same special circumstance reduce the other guarantors' recourse debts in proportion to their burden ratios?
A later decision extending or refusing to extend this special circumstance to security created by a third party would require this entry to be read again. So would any amendment to Articles 448(2), 481 and 482 of the Civil Act, on which recourse between joint and several guarantors and the effect of subrogation rest.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
7 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-24
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 7 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “If the real security had been created by a third party over the third party's own property rather than by the principal debtor, would the same special circumstance reduce the other guarantors' recourse debts in proportion to their burden ratios?” vs Independent “How should reimbursement be allocated if the security over the principal debtor's property was established only after the co-guarantor made the subrogated payment?”
The primary asks whether security given by a third party over its own property would produce the same reduction for the other guarantors. The independent asks how proceeds should be allocated when the security was created only after the subrogated payment.
따라서 주채무자 소유 재산에 관하여 대위변제 전에 채권자 앞으로 물적 담보가 설정되어 있었던 경우에는 대위변제한 연대보증인이 담보권을 실행하여 변제받은 금액이 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시킨다고 볼 수 없는 특별한 사정이 있으므로, 그 변제액은 주채무자의 구상채무를 감소시킴과 동시에 다른 연대보증인들의 구상채무도 각자의 부담비율에 상응하여 감소시킨다고 보아야 한다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 12 January 2023 (2022Na2006636), held that the KRW 4,816,240,060 received by executing the pledge reduced only the recourse debt of the principal debtor corresponding to the plaintiff's share. The principal claim still available for subrogation stood at KRW 6,961,920,610, which still exceeded the defendant's recourse debt of KRW 5,889,080,335, and the sum recovered did not exceed the plaintiff's own share of KRW 5,889,080,335 either, so the defendant's recourse debt was not reduced. The court therefore ordered the defendant to pay KRW 5,889,080,335 with statutory interest and delay damages, and dismissed the defendant's application for the return of an advance payment.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that this misread the law on how far the other joint and several guarantors' recourse debts are extinguished when one guarantor executes the security after subrogation. Because the KRW 4,816,240,060 came from security over which neither guarantor had ever borne the insolvency risk, it also reduced the defendant's recourse debt by KRW 2,408,120,030, leaving KRW 3,480,960,305. The Court reversed the part ordering payment above that sum, and also the part dismissing the defendant's application for the return of an advance payment, since that application is a provisional counterclaim and cannot escape reversal once the main claim has been reversed, and sent that part back to the Seoul High Court.
Distinguishing conditions
- A payment the paying guarantor received from the principal debtor out of other assets, with no real security over the principal debtor's property created in the creditor's favour before the subrogation payment, so that the ordinary principle governs.
- Real security created by the principal debtor only after the paying guarantor had already paid by subrogation, since the special circumstance requires the security to have been set before that payment.
Record verification notes
From the loan and guarantee documents, establish whether real security over the principal debtor's property existed before the subrogation payment and what priority it secured for the creditor. Separate the sum recovered by executing that security, valued here at KRW 4,816,240,060, from any payment the principal debtor made from other assets. Then confirm the burden ratio, here found to be equal absent special circumstances, and the interest rates applied to what remains after the reduction.
From the official text
Points at issue
공동연대보증인 중 1인이 채무 전액을 대위변제한 후 주채무자로부터 구상금의 일부를 변제받은 경우, 그 변제가 대위변제를 한 연대보증인의 부담부분에 상응하는 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시키는지 여부(원칙적 적극) / 주채무자 소유 재산에 관하여 대위변제 전에 채권자 앞으로 물적 담보가 설정되어 있었던 경우, 공동연대보증인 중 1인이 주채무를 대위변제한 후 법률상 당연히 이전받은 담보권을 실행하여 변제받은 금액은 대위변제한 연대보증인의 부담부분에 상응하는 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시킨다고 볼 수 없는 특별한 사정이 있는지 여부(적극) 및 위 변제액이 주채무자와 다른 연대보증인들의 구상채무를 감소시키는 범위
Unofficial English translation
Where one of several co-sureties has paid the entire debt by subrogation and thereafter received partial reimbursement from the principal obligor, whether such payment first reduces the principal obligor's debt for reimbursement corresponding to the portion of the burden borne by the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation (in principle, affirmative) / where a security interest in property owned by the principal obligor had been created in favor of the creditor before the payment by subrogation, whether there are special circumstances such that the amount of payment received by executing the security interest, which the co-surety who paid the principal debt by subrogation acquired as a matter of law, cannot be regarded as first reducing the principal obligor's debt for reimbursement corresponding to the portion of the burden borne by the co-surety who made the payment by subrogation (affirmative), and the scope by which the amount of such payment reduces the debts for reimbursement of the principal obligor and the other co-sureties
Summary of the holding
공동연대보증인 중 1인이 채무 전액을 대위변제한 후 주채무자로부터 구상금의 일부를 변제받은 경우, 대위변제를 한 연대보증인은 자기의 부담부분에 관하여는 다른 연대보증인들로부터는 구상을 받을 수 없고 오로지 주채무자로부터만 구상을 받아야 하므로 주채무자의 변제액을 자기의 부담부분에 상응하는 주채무자의 구상채무에 먼저 충당할 정당한 이익이 있는 점, 대위변제를 한 연대보증인이 다른 연대보증인들에 대하여 각자의 부담부분을 한도로 갖는 구상권은 주채무자의 무자력 위험을 감수하고 먼저 대위변제를 한 연대보증인의 구상권 실현을 확보하고 공동연대보증인들 간의 공평을 기하기 위하여 민법 제448조 제2항에 의하여 인정된 권리이므로, 다른 연대보증인들로서는 주채무자의 무자력 시 주채무자에 대한 재구상권 행사가 곤란해질 위험이 있다는 사정을 내세워 대위변제를 한 연대보증인에 대한 구상채무의 감면을 주장하거나 이행을 거절할 수 없는 점 등을 고려하면, 주채무자의 구상금 일부 변제는 특별한 사정이 없는 한 대위변제를 한 연대보증인의 부담부분에 상응하는 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시키고 이 부분 구상채무가 전부 소멸되기 전까지는 다른 연대보증인들이 부담하는 구상채무의 범위에는 아무런 영향을 미치지 않는 것이 원칙이다. 그러나 주채무자 소유 재산에 관하여 대위변제 전에 채권자 앞으로 물적 담보가 설정되어 채권자에게 우선변제권이 확보되어 있다면 공동연대보증인들은 그 우선변제받을 금액에 관하여 주채무자의 무자력으로 인한 위험을 부담한다고 볼 수 없다. 이러한 경우 공동연대보증인 중 1인이 주채무를 대위변제함으로써 채권자가 주채무자에 대하여 가지는 담보에 관한 권리가 동일성을 유지한 채 대위변제를 한 연대보증인에게 법률상 당연히 이전되고 이후 그 담보권이 실행되어 연대보증인의 구상금 채권이 일부 소멸하였다고 하더라도, 그 부분은 대위변제를 한 연대보증인이 주채무자의 무자력으로 인한 위험을 감수하였다고 보기 어렵다. 그럼에도 그 담보권 실행으로 인한 변제액이 대위변제한 연대보증인의 부담부분에 상응하는 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시킨다고 본다면 이는 당초부터 주채무자의 무자력으로 인한 위험을 부담하였다고 볼 수 없는 부분에 관한 이익을 연대보증인 중 한 사람에게만 전부 귀속시키게 되어 부당하다. 따라서 주채무자 소유 재산에 관하여 대위변제 전에 채권자 앞으로 물적 담보가 설정되어 있었던 경우에는 대위변제한 연대보증인이 담보권을 실행하여 변제받은 금액이 주채무자의 구상채무를 먼저 감소시킨다고 볼 수 없는 특별한 사정이 있으므로, 그 변제액은 주채무자의 구상채무를 감소시킴과 동시에 다른 연대보증인들의 구상채무도 각자의 부담비율에 상응하여 감소시킨다고 보아야 한다.
Order
원심판결 중 3,480,960,305원 및 이에 대하여 2020. 3. 4.부터 2020. 8. 12.까지는 연 6%의, 그다음 날부터 다 갚는 날까지는 연 12%의 각 비율로 계산한 돈을 초과하여 지급을 명한 피고 패소 부분과 가지급물반환신청에 대한 부분을 파기하고, 이 부분 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The portion of the judgment of the court below in which the defendant lost, ordering payment in excess of 3,480,960,305 won and money calculated at the rate of 6% per annum from March 4, 2020 to August 12, 2020 and 12% per annum from the following day until the day of full payment, together with the portion concerning the application for the return of provisional payments, is reversed, and this part of the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.
Provisions referred to
민법 제425조 제1항, 제441조, 제448조 제2항, 제481조, 제482조
Read 2026-10-24 · Cross-read 2026-10-24. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
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