Danish citizen getting married in Thailand

[Sophon]

I have been living with my Thai partner for going on eight years, and since 2012 we have been living in Lamphun in northern Thailand. Neither of us is getting any younger, so lately we have been thinking of getting married to make it easier for her to get my assets, should I die before her. It's only a matter of practicality for us, so it would be a simple affair at the local amphur (no party, no sinsot etc).

 

From reading posts here on ThaiVisa I understand, that the amphur will want a "freedom to marry" certificate from my embassy (in my case the Danish embassy in Bangkok). In order to issue such a certificate, my embassy requires (according to their website) a marital status certificate from the municipality in Denmark where I lived before moving to Thailand (in my case Copenhagen). And therein lies the rub, as in order for Copenhagen municipality to issue this marital status certificate for someone living permanently outside of Denmark , they in turn require a marital status certificate issued by the authorities in the country where that person is living. I don't believe that my local amphur would be able to issue such a certificate, as they would presumably not be able to do a nationwide search since I don't have a Thai national ID number.

 

So it seems like I'm caught in kind of a "chicken or the egg" scenario, where Thailand want Denmark to confirm that I am not already married. But Denmark won't confirm this until Thailand first confirm that I am not married.

 

Now, I know that there are obviously Danish citizens that have been married in Thailand, so I am hoping that someone here on ThaiVisa could explain the process to me. Or who alternatively could point me to a website with a good guide describing the process. It's not really urgent, but then again I could be hit my a car tomorrow, so maybe it is.

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who can provide information

 

Sophon

 

 

 

[happylarry]

Out of interest I just read your Embassy web site and it seems that it may be a lot easier for you to go and marry in Denmark. Have you considered that?

HL

[Sophon]

8 hours ago, happylarry said:

Out of interest I just read your Embassy web site and it seems that it may be a lot easier for you to go and marry in Denmark. Have you considered that?

HL

Thanks for your reply.

 

No, unfortunately marrying in Denmark isn't an option for us. I am not convinced that getting a visa for my GF would be easier (or even possible) than getting married in Thailand. And even if it were, we have 14 dogs and getting someone to take care of that many dogs for an extended time isn't really possible.

 

Sophon

[Peterw42]

OP, cant you just, for the ease of getting the documents, give a local Danish address and have documents sent there. Have a friend send the documents on to you in Thailand. 

You mention the Municipality wont issue if you live permanently in Thailand, unless you have permanent residency you dont live permanently in Thailand. 

[lopburi3]

Perhaps be easier to just get a legal will drawn up for both countries (or just Thailand if all assets are here).  Should serve purpose - expect your Embassy would try to be helpful if you email them nicely.  Disposition of body after death would also be a question and perhaps if could be recorded with Embassy.  I would go with an email explaining situation and asking advice first - perhaps marriage first or other 'will' type documents that you might take care of now.  If they can not answer they may be able to provide a contact that can.

[Sophon]

33 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

OP, cant you just, for the ease of getting the documents, give a local Danish address and have documents sent there. Have a friend send the documents on to you in Thailand. 

You mention the Municipality wont issue if you live permanently in Thailand, unless you have permanent residency you dont live permanently in Thailand. 

The fact that Thailand considers me living here temporarily unless I have permanent residency isn't relevant to the Danish authorities. Having lived outside of Denmark since 2010 and having no address in Denmark or other ties to the country means that according to the Danish rules I am no longer a Danish resident.

 

Sophon

[Sophon]

39 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

OP, cant you just, for the ease of getting the documents, give a local Danish address and have documents sent there. Have a friend send the documents on to you in Thailand. 

You mention the Municipality wont issue if you live permanently in Thailand, unless you have permanent residency you dont live permanently in Thailand. 

Unfortunately, it's not as easy in Denmark as in some other countries to maintain residency. When leaving Denmark permanently you are required by law to report your move to the Danish social security register, so the municipality knows that I am living in Thailand. Even if I wanted to break the law and pretend I was still living in Denmark (using my fathers address), it would have tax consequences for my savings and pension plans and would end up being quite expensive.

 

Sophon

 

 

[Sophon]

26 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Perhaps be easier to just get a legal will drawn up for both countries (or just Thailand if all assets are here).  Should serve purpose - expect your Embassy would try to be helpful if you email them nicely.  Disposition of body after death would also be a question and perhaps if could be recorded with Embassy.  I would go with an email explaining situation and asking advice first - perhaps marriage first or other 'will' type documents that you might take care of now.  If they can not answer they may be able to provide a contact that can.

Yes, drawing up a will is the back-up plan, but most of my assets are in Denmark, so I would require two wills - one in Thailand and one in Denmark. However, getting married is the preferred solution, and I know that plenty of Danish people have been getting married in Thailand, so it must be not quite as complicated as it seems.

 

I already sent an email to the Danish embassy in Bangkok yesterday, so hopefully they have some information for me (other than what is on their website). But I was hoping that someone here on ThaiVisa had real life experience of this and could help me getting started.

 

Thanks to all for your replies so far, keep it coming.

 

Sophon

 

 

[happylarry]

Even if you do get married then you still need to make the wills, both home and away, so it may be prudent for you to start with that anyway.

HL

[Sophon]

8 minutes ago, happylarry said:

Even if you do get married then you still need to make the wills, both home and away, so it may be prudent for you to start with that anyway.

HL

Why do you believe I would I need to do wills if we were married?

 

Sophon

[lopburi3]

Thai law would not require will for wife to inherit and expect Denmark would be the same.  It can make wheels move faster perhaps but it is not required AFAIK (but willing to be called if have reliable information). 

[happylarry]

Ive just checked with my wife and if there is no will then if any relative decides they want a bit of the pot then they can go to court and ask for their share. The surviving spouse still has to go to court even with a will in order to get a court order for the banks to release the money, it all takes time but is made so much easier and causing less heart ache when your wishes are all written down.

At a time like that the surviving spouse needs all the help they can get.

[Sophon]

On 6/17/2018 at 8:35 PM, happylarry said:

Ive just checked with my wife and if there is no will then if any relative decides they want a bit of the pot then they can go to court and ask for their share. The surviving spouse still has to go to court even with a will in order to get a court order for the banks to release the money, it all takes time but is made so much easier and causing less heart ache when your wishes are all written down.

At a time like that the surviving spouse needs all the help they can get.

There will be no relatives expecting any of my estate , and even if there were they wouldn't be entitled to anything anyway. Will or no will you still have to go through probate both here in Thailand and in Denmark, so I don't see how having a will would make any difference to me.

 

Sophon

[Sophon]

Ok, so the Danish embassy in Bangkok responded to my mail. Actually they responded twice, the first mail was just a standard mail listing the requirements, but didn't address my specific questions. But they were very quick to reply to my follow-up mail.

 

As I suspected, they confirm that there is no way that the Thai authorities can issue the marital status certificate required by my old municipality in Denmark. They can issue such a certificate for a Thai citizen, since all Thais is issued a unique personal ID number when born. Yes, as foreigners we can also be issued such an ID number, but technically there is nothing to prevent us from getting more than one. I already have an ID number issued when I obtained the yellow tabien bahn for my condo in Bangkok, but if I went to my local amphur in Lamphun and asked for a new yellow tabien bahn and ID number here, they would have no way of knowing about my existing ID number.

 

The embassy offered to write a mail to my old municipality confirming that there is no way to fulfill their requirement for a marital status certificate issued by the Thai authorities. Hopefully, that will be accepted.

 

As an aside, the fee my embassy charges for the "freedom to marry" certificate is THB 5,300. How does that compare with what other embassies charge?

 

One further question. The upside to the whole process is that I don't have to go to Bangkok to visit the embassy in person, everything can be done electronically. But, of course, once I (hopefully) have the "freedom to marry" certificate from my embassy, it has to be translated to Thai and certified by the MFA in Bangkok. Does anyone have contact information for a translation service that can handle both translation, certification and sending the finished document to me here in Lamphun? Information about the fee charged for such a service is also appreciated.

 

Thanks again.

Sophon