A scene from a broadcast last year in which Jeon Won-joo said she worried her two sons would fight over her estate after her death. [KBS 2TV 'Sajangnim Gwineun Dangnagwi Gwi']
A scene from a broadcast last year in which Jeon Won-joo said she worried her two sons would fight over her estate after her death. [KBS 2TV 'Sajangnim Gwineun Dangnagwi Gwi']

Actor Jeon Won-joo, 87, said she has already transferred half of her estate to her children to head off a potential inheritance dispute after her death.

The MBC program "PD Notebook" is set to air an episode titled "2026 Inheritance War: Time Left for the Family" on Tuesday, examining cases of families embroiled in inheritance disputes. Jeon appears in the episode and says she has already given away roughly half her assets to her two sons to prevent them from fighting over the estate.

She said she continues to manage the remaining assets herself in preparation for the eventual inheritance, and went on to say she felt it necessary to plan for the possibility of not receiving proper care if she falls ill.

Jeon is reported to hold assets approaching 5 billion won ($3.68 million), accumulated through a substantial inheritance from her mother — a businesswoman who left her a house and commercial properties — as well as income from her acting career and returns from various investments.

Last year, on a separate television program, she confided that she worried her two sons would quarrel over her assets after she was gone and sought advice from a lawyer. The lawyer advised her to prepare a notarized will in advance through legal counsel.

In practice, however, fewer than 1 percent of all deaths result in a notarized will, according to the program.

As a result, inheritance disputes have grown year after year. Courts nationwide received 3,612 petitions for the division of inherited assets in 2025 — roughly five times the number filed a decade ago. Meanwhile, the scale of so-called "dementia money" — assets held by people whose cognitive decline makes managing finances difficult — is projected to grow from 154 trillion won ($113 billion) in 2023 to 488 trillion won by 2050 as the population ages.


paq@heraldcorp.com