KhaoYai

Fast becoming somewhat of an 'expert' on this.???? If you are both in agreement that you want to divorce and you have agreed on the division of assets and the care of any children, you can simply go to the Amphur and get a divorce. There should not be any charge for the divorce. You will be asked to sign that you have agreed to the above but you don't have to give any details. However, I would recommend that you do give details - especially on the financial/assets settlement - it may be useful later if you run into problems. As for the division of assets - others may be able to answer you more correctly but basically, my understanding of the legal side is that any assets purchased or money held before the marriage date remain the property of the holder but assets purchased/cash earned after marriage are normally spilt 50/50. There are some variations allowed on this - for example, you might purchase something after marriage using money held before marriage. As far as I know, you can also keep that but you would have to prove that you had the funds before marriage. The key point in all of this is that you are both prepared to sign to the fact that you have reached an agreement on your finances/assets, By the way - its not all one sided. If your wife buys a house/car/etc. after you are married for example, you are almost certainly entitled to half of that (unless she can prove she bought it with money she held before you were married) There is no requirement to give anything to your wife if its not covered by the above. The settlement can also be whatever you want it to be, as long as you both agree and sign to that fact. For the purpose of the rules regarding a divorce by mutual agreement - all the Amphur are interested in is that you are both in agreement to whatever settlement you have made. If you are not in agreement, you cannot get divorced at the Amphur, you will have to go through the courts. There is no longer a requirement to go to the same Amphur that you were married at but in practice, its easier if you do. You will both have to take your copy of the marriage certificate and registration with you. If you have lost any of those documents, you will need to have a police report of the loss.

Yes but Prayuth and his buddies don't have any need. I'm alright jack.

Totally agree. My second test was a bloody nightmare - involving 3 visits. At the time I thought "what will real tourists think about this". The woman in charge of the testing seemed to be telling me how lucky I was by stating "Its free" with a don't complain attitude. I know they are aiming at tourists but we all spend money - during my last trip (30 Dec - 18 Jan) I'll wager I spent more money than any 'tourist' did. But this hotel requirement is just madness for me, there are no SHA hotels anywhere near my home so I'll have to return to Bangkok to comply then back home again! The TAT contact centre seemed to have some sympathy and told me to wite to the government contact centre - I did but I'm not expecting any reply. If they had real concerns, you'd think they'd take the matter up with the government themselves. I intend leaving booking my next trip - March/April until near the time in the hope they see sense and the rules change.

No, not at all. I'm aware of that one but it wasn't like that and I'm not going to get into a long drawn out argument about it - pointless.

Not always, mine was absolutely fine for the first year, no signs at all - even to the point of refusing to buy expensive items.

Right, understood but that is not how I read your original post. It does indeed appear that she is warning you. Over time, you will learn, as many of us have had to do the hard way, that way too many Thai/Foreigner relationships are based on money. That is not to say yours is, its just a fact. Plenty of foreigners have been 'burned' by Thai women and been left with nothing - such is our stupidity, we just don't want to believe it at the time. Fortunately I lost very little. It is quite often the family rather than the girl - the pressure that some families put on girls is hard to understand, in fact, when I hear some stories, I still don't understand it. For example, I cannot see any way that I could put so much pressure on my daughter that she would agree to go work as a prostitute - but it happens. So its seems your girl knows how her family are and is keeping you away from them because she doesn't want them pestering you. I would regard that as a blessing. Whilst some Thai families are really welcoming and want nothing, there are some that will be looking at what they can extract from you from the outset. If your girl wants to keep you away from them, its probably best that you heed her warnings. However, it is also possible that she is keeping you away from something. It took me 18 months to find out that my ex wife's 'cousin' was actually her Thai boyfriend. I've been a regular visitor to Thailand for over 20 years and didn't think it could happen to me - it can and it does. The only way to totally avoid that, or the risk of it, is to not have a relationship with a Thai woman at all. You will see the 'real' side of a Thai family when things go wrong. In my case, the break up involved theft and criminal proceedings. My ex's family didn't realise that I understood them at the police station when they asked my lawyer why he was helping a foreigner!!! My lawyer replied that he was on the side of justice, at which he was told he was not Thai - sometimes they are just damned unbelievable. I hope you never have to learn things the hard way. There's good and bad everywhere but when you don't fully understand the language and/or are not there full time, it can be very difficult. That said, I know of foreigners that are in very successful relationships with Thai women.

I hope you realise that your company has to trade and has to have a reason to own land? If not then land ownership is illegal if the company has simply been set up for the purpose of land ownership be a foreigner. Simply paying tax does not establish trading. Yes, there are many that 'own' land that way but if its ever challenged, you will lose. Check out the clause in the Thai land law re: circumvention. Its actually not that difficult to comply but most don't, they think paying a little tax will be sufice.

Right, that may have been what the manageress at Pak Chong Land Office was trying on. Things were very different when I went with my lawyer - I would not attempt to do it again myself. When it comes to land and property, Thai love Thai comes very much to the surface it seems. Since then, several people have expressed surprise about my name being anywhere on the channote, some have even said they don't believe it. One, another Thai lawyer just 2 weeks ago, had to be shown the channote before he would believe it. Its amazing how little Thai's know about the laws/documentation that foreigners can/cannot hold - and how much disinformation is spread by those beliefs. Most Thai's aren't even aware that we can have a Yellow Tabien Baan. I've even had one Thai man state that my Thai driving licence must be a Khaosan fake because he didn't know foreigners can have one.

My final post on this matter. I made what I and any other sane person would consider to be a straightforward request that if anyone came across an item that had been stolen from my house, along with a lot of other items during a break-in, would that person please contact me. In my opinion, the item, a crash helmet, with its unusual design, may just help to catch the culprits. I don't care how many are available on Lazada or at what price, I brought this helmet from the UK where I paid over £400 for it and in several years of biking in Thailand, I've never seen another 'Punisher' helmet. There was/is just a chance that the helmet may have lead to the arrest of the burglars. There was no harm done by making the post and I certainly wouldn't have received any information if I didn't make the post. I can't believe some of the reactions I've received here. I can only guess but some of you must lead very sad lives. If all your life consists of is sitting behind your screen, picking other members posts to bits, I feel very sorry for you. I've been generally slagged off, even called a liar - although I notice the guy who did that has gone very quiet since I posted proof of my claim. To be honest, some of the reaction has been bloody unbelievable. There are people on this forum who would swear black is white, just for the sake of arguing but a little checking shows them for what they realy are. One respondent in particular, seems to spend his days attacking almost every post he comes across. Sad people, very, very sad.

In the Thai version of my agreement, its written in English, I don't think they have a word for it. It actually comes from the latin phrase 'Usus et Fructus' which means 'Use and Enjoyment'. In your earlier posts, were you alluding to the viewpoint that a Usufructs legality is questionable if its granted to a husband by his wife? I've heard of that but my lawyer said its incorrect. I've heard that Phuket Land Office will not accept Usufucts - I will never understand how it is that individual offices can make their own rules up - both Land Offices and Immigration suffer from this problem and I wonder if anyone's ever had the courage to challenge them in the courts? There is a law of the land and I would have thought all offices must abide by it..........but........T.I.T. However, if someone has that problem and still wants some protection, many Land Offices will accept a foreign mortgage or charge over a property. Such a loan could be called in, in the event of a break up but would of course, be subject to the rules on division of assets. It is not unheard of for a wife to take a mortgage out on a property without her husband knowing. Both a Usufruct and a mortgage would prevent that, provided they are duly registered. When I first tried to register my Usufruct, the Land Office manageress refused, I didn't understand what she was saying so I have no idea why. I went back with my lawyer, some stern talking and finger wagging took place and we left with my name and Usufuct registered on the channote. Thinking about it, the word Usufruct is not present of my channote so there may well be a Thai word for it.

Untrue.

You're missing the point - she'd just passed her Thai test. I'm not saying that some Brits fail their tests repeatedly - the difference is, my ex was allowed out on the roads, Brits failing their tests are not.

None

Not sure if that's a joke or not. I am a motorcyclist in both Thailand and the UK. My basic instinct just would not let me pull out without looking. I guarantee, they don't look - observe next time you're out.

My point is, she had a Thai licence but needed 120 hours to get up to UK driving standards.

Whilst I agree to a large extent, enforcement doesn't explain everything. Near my home in Thailand, as set of lights has just been taken out because traffic on the major road simply ignored the lights when they turned red against them - it was the scene of a lot of accidents, many fatal. Now, you could say that if the police enforced red lights, that wouldn't happen. However, I've pulled out of the minor road at those lights many times and been confronted by traffic on the major road, hammering through the red light, headilghts flashing at well over 100kph - sometimes 10-20 seconds after the lights changed when they can clearly see traffic emerging against them. That's ignorance, arrogance and just plain stupidity - stupidity in terms of a lack of regard for their own life, as well as those of others. I'm not so sure that enforcement would change that aspect. (The lights I refer to above have been replaced by a left turn followed by a u-turn, I don't think that will be any better.)

Not in my experience - see above.

Agreed. When my ex wife came to the UK, she had just passed her test in Bangkok. I made a point of telling her to learn in a manual car as autos are not so popular in the UK and she, having been offered an alternative to actually passing her test, insisted on doing it properly. Nevertheless, when she came to the UK she immediately began taking lessons in readiness for her UK driving test. I kid you not, she had to have 120 hours of lessons before her instructor stated she was ready. 120 hours! When I asked her instructor why she needed so many hours he said she just didn't grasp the basics and questioned why she had to do this or that - things that we take as common sense. Driving in Thailand I encounter motorcycles coming out of side roads without looking all the time for example - its as if there's a bracket fixing their head in the same direction as the handlebars. That's totally alien to me, my basic survival instinct and common sense just wouldn't let me do it. Maybe that's something that's missing in a lot of Thai drivers/riders?

I had no problem with registering my Usufruct - when my lawyer went to the Land Office and told them straight.

Well Thailand's government can't really say much about military coups. Pot calling kettle black and all that.

Simply going by his original statement. If she's warning him that her family will want money, hat's off to her but that's not how I read his OP.

Calls for action at crossroads after two 14 year boys killed on three person motorcycle Sadly, as we all know, nothing will happen.

This a pile of buffalo do do. You need to get out of this relationship - its the usual farang ATM scenario. You don't pay money to meet the family - in this outdated facet of Thai culture, you are supposed to negotiate Sin Sot with her mother or the next in line family elder. How you would do that without meeting them, I know not. If she's talking about money at this stage, I think you know what to do, you don't need to ask here.

Don't forget her 'cousin' ????

It has everything to do with the post I reacted to.