Marriage Contract ?

[churchill]

After 2 years marriage and a baby daughter I am considering setting up a marriage contract to mainly protect my assets in case of seperation in the future - The main things I am concerned with are Land and House , which are presently in my Company Name ( with nominees therefore illegal ), I have a main house and several plots of land and I am considering transfering these into my Wife's name and having a contract saying that she cannot sell , or transfer without my consent and that in case of seperation the proceeds from any sale should be returned to me - obviously with the normal protection for my wife and daughter .

Has anyone any experience or suggestions of a better way .

[jEFFREYk44]

After 2 years marriage and a baby daughter I am considering setting up a marriage contract to mainly protect my assets in case of seperation in the future - The main things I am concerned with are Land and House , which are presently in my Company Name ( with nominees therefore illegal ), I have a main house and several plots of land and I am considering transfering these into my Wife's name and having a contract saying that she cannot sell , or transfer without my consent and that in case of seperation the proceeds from any sale should be returned to me - obviously with the normal protection for my wife and daughter .

Has anyone any experience or suggestions of a better way .

and how are you to get her to sign?

[ColPyat]

Has anyone any experience or suggestions of a better way .

The easiest way people here generally do is putting things in the name of the children, in your case your daughter.

[Casanundra]

If your assets where bought before you married then she has no right to claim.

If they were bought after the marriage then legally she has a right to a 50:50 share.

Setting up a 30 year lease hold under the daughter's name would work BUT that would probably make her use your daughter as a bargaining tool against you at some point in the future if you decided to split.

You could of course sell your current assets, pocket the money into an offshore account and then go into renting.

The rationale being that she will have a hard time getting her hands on any offshore funds.

[jackr]

Agree, get the dosh out of the country and rent ;-)

[jackr]

Agree, get the dosh out of the country and rent ;-)

[Smilodon]

I strongly disagree with putting anything in your wife's name unless you specify that YOU have to approve any selling price.

Otherwise, what's to prevent her from selling the house to a friend for fifty baht, giving you that money then turning around and selling it with the friend for 1,000,000 baht or whatever?

Having your money nestled securely in some offshore account sounds like a vastly better plan. Yes, we all trust your wife, but people can change.

[Maizefarmer]

Trust Law is relatively new in Thailand (i.e. it has not been practised much) - but it's starting to be practised more and more by the wealthy (and you know how they "love" each other!!!!) - and its what I done with my assets but not because of concerns about the wife, or because I am wealthy! - after 20 years of marriage I think we know where we stand with each other.

Set up an off-shore trust structure in the mid90's as the holding entity for all my property and company assets - with my youngest child as the ultimate beneficiary. So long as the child (i.e. beneficiary) is a Thai citizen (or dual citizen - one of which is Thai), then ANYONE can serve as a trustee (e.g. even you) - thereby retaining control of the assets till such time as the beneficiary "comes of age" - which in Thailand as far as trust law goes is 25 years of age.

It means the Thai reg'd company (which "appears" to be the controlling entity) is firstly, not the ultimate controler of my assets, it's shareholders are NOT Thai citizens but an off-shore trust, the ultimate beneficiary of which is a Thai citizen (which CAN be be a child) and I am "Chairman of the Board of Trustees".

For guys who have a house as the principal asset, or an apartment, you really need to think hard before going don this road - you can, but it is not a cheap option. A lot of paperwork and it takes time. It took me 9 months to get it all sorted out and setup - and about Baht 260K.

Maizefarmer

[Chang_paarp]

Being one of the bitter and twisted from a marriage in Australia, I asked the same question a while ago. It covers a number of options specific to a Thai relationship.

Look at this thread in the real estate section: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=78581