Sole custody for unmarried Thai mother?

[IztwanGurob]

My girlfriend has a 3 year old daughter with a Thai man. They were never married and the father's name is on the birth certificate, but has never shown any interrest in his daughter.

 

Now we are in the process of applying for a visa for my girlfriend and her daughter to come to live with me in my home country in Europe. We went to my girlfriend's amphur and got a "Por Kor 14" document for the daughter, which allowed us to get her a passport.

 

The rules in my home country is a bit unclear if "Por Kor 14" is enough to give the daughter a visa and we decided to get a document from the court stating that the mother have sole custody. My girlfriend went to the court of her home province and in the same building (I think) found a lawyer that could help. The lawyer's office copied a lot of douments about the daughter and charged 2000 baht to start work.

 

No two weeks later he called and said everything was ready and he will sent the sole custody document for a fee of 5000 baht. This is good, but I can't help feeling it was a bit too easy and cheep. As far as know the father has not been involved signing any documents.

 

What are your thoughts about this?

[kwonitoy]

I had a lawyer get the documents together and submit them to Social (Family?) Service Department. cost 5,000 baht.

Social services interviewed myself, my nanny and one character witness from the village, brought an interpreter with me.

If Social services deems the case worthy its forwarded to a Family court.

Went in front of the judge and got swore in to tell the truth etc. 

He asked me some questions (spoke good english) read the recommendations of the social services and judged me to be sole custodian of my son.

Paid the lawyer another 5,000 baht.

It doesn't have to be expensive but I know in my case I had to stand in front of a judge in a courtroom, not the lawyer.

[happylarry]

There was no need to involve a lawyer at all. If the mother was not married then she has sole custody in Thai law, no matter that the father is on the birth certificate.

The mother could have simply gone to the Amphur herself and asked them for the form confirming her sole custody for a few baht.

HL

[IztwanGurob]

10 hours ago, happylarry said:

There was no need to involve a lawyer at all. If the mother was not married then she has sole custody in Thai law, no matter that the father is on the birth certificate.

The mother could have simply gone to the Amphur herself and asked them for the form confirming her sole custody for a few baht.

Yes, we did that and we got the Por Kor 14 document. We also want something from a court, which will give us more weight when dealing with my home country.

 

The lawyer has now sent the documents he say. We will have to wait and see what arrives.

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by IztwanGurob

[davjensteph]

Hi my friend,,,i did the same with my ex partner,the father had no contact with the child so we got a lawyer and he went to court then he called my ex to collect all the paperwork done....the father just gets notified what has happened,and that was it...common in Thailand no big deal...

[AlQaholic]

According to Thai law, If the father never married the mother, he has no responsibilities whatsoever towards the child. The mother bears all legal responsibilities to care for the child. That's why it was so easy to get your documents. No signature is needed for the biological father, as in a legal sense, he is not the father.

It makes good sense from a travelling point, to get that document, especially when it comes to immigration allowing her to board the plane.

Edited January 28, 2018 by AlQaholic