Lawyer or Agency to register a Marriage in Bangkok and crazy quotes.

[Eaglekott]

Hi

 

I have been together with my Thai GF for 10 Years and have been living here in Thailand longer than that.

We decided that we will get married, and want to do the legal registration first, to have the ceremony at a later point.

 

We checked with one lawyer, and he quote us 30,000 Baht that do not include government fees and cost for translation and certification of any documents. Also no WHT or VAT.

 

This sounds very expensive to me. Any one knows if price is fair, and if not do you know af anyone that can help? Lawyer or Agency?

 

I also asked this lawyer for help to become of Thai nationality, and for that he quote 1,500,000 plus all fees.

 

Eagle

 

[Will B Good]

What???.....Might be wrong, but I recall paying 500 baht.....albeit 16 years ago...but still!!!

[Eaglekott]

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

What???.....Might be wrong, but I recall paying 500 baht.....albeit 16 years ago...but still!!!

Did you do the paperwork by yourself or an agency helped you?

 

[Will B Good]

6 minutes ago, Eaglekott said:

Did you do the paperwork by yourself or an agency helped you?

 

A 'fixer'....rather than an agent I would have said....bit of a wide boy.......I may have paid more than that for all the docs, but only ever recall him saying "give me 500 baht and I'll get you a fancy leather folder for the certificate".

[NativeBob]

I still remember thai dude from that Govt. building at Chaengwattana promising thai citizenship to whoever wanted at THB1.5M. He claimed he got connections, but couldn't provide a single reference. Funny )

[Photoguy21]

Have the ceremony first then go to your local Ampur who will ask if you have had the ceremony. Assuming you say you have had it they will issue a marriage certificate

[bbko]

8 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

Have the ceremony first then go to your local Ampur who will ask if you have had the ceremony. Assuming you say you have had it they will issue a marriage certificate

When I got married to my Thai wife, went to our local amphur and paid something like 100b and we were legally married, it wasn't until a month later that we had the party/ceremony at her parent's village.

The time consuming part was making runs back and forth between my embassy and getting papers officially translated with the MFA.

OP, pay 30,000 if you want, but it's possible to DIY for about 10,000.

Edit: less time/money if you live in BKK.

Edited April 4, 2022 by bbko

[Photoguy21]

1 minute ago, bbko said:

When I got married to my Thai wife, went to our local amphur and paid something like 100b and we were legally married, it wasn't until a month later that we had the party/ceremony at her parent's village.

The time consuming part was making runs back and forth between my embassy and getting papers officially translated with the MFA.

OP, pay 30,000 if you want, but it's possible to DIY for about 10,000.

Edit: less time/money if you live in BKK.

Totally agree with you. No need to get the lawyer vultures involved at all

[MikeyIdea]

Marriage doesn't need a lawyer but you should bring an interpretor (so that you don't sign any other papers "by mistake"). Doesn't have to be much, but must be someone that ONLY YOU know. The to-be wife should meet the interpretor the first time 1-2 hours before going to the amphur.  

[Eaglekott]

I ended up asking an agency for help with the documents and registration of our Marriage because Im very busy and thought it would save me time.

 

Now this agency start to ask for Documents I have never seen needed before when register a Marriage with the Thai authorities,.

 

Documents I have not seen that I need before is:

WorkPermit,

Company affidavit and list of shareholders.

Bank statement from the Company for one year.

ID copies if my Friends that send the document telling that I am Single.

My Private Bank statement for one year.

 

Have you heard this is needed? 

 

 

 

 

 

[Denim]

20 minutes ago, Eaglekott said:

Have you heard this is needed? 

No.....because not needed.

 

We got married at Bangrak about 10 years ago.  They were very helpful and also provided the witnesses  who we gave 200 baht each ( nice earner for them as they are doing it all day )

The actual fee was a few hundred baht as we opted for the fancy album to put the marriage certificate in.

 

The most expensive thing is the Affidavit of Freedom to Marry , which you have to get from your embassy and for which they charge a couple of thousand baht. This will have to be translated into Thai .

 

Since regulations can change you could get your girlfriend to telephone Bangrak and ask them what they currently require.

[MajorTom]

15 minutes ago, Eaglekott said:

Have you heard this is needed?

I only brought my passport and the translated MFA approved "No impediment to Marriage". As far as i remember.

 

What I suspect this agent is trying to do is register the marriage without you present?

Because all these documents resembles to answer the questions they asked me in the interview.

-How much money do you make.

-When did you come to Thailand

-Where have you been/lived. How long etc.

-You had girlfriend before ????

 

I also needed two witnesses. That's probably what your friends ID are for.

 

Its simpler if you do the registration on your own. Its not that hard. Use the agent for the document/MFA stuff if necessary.

 

[Eaglekott]

13 minutes ago, MajorTom said:

I also needed two witnesses. That's probably what your friends ID are for.

No the witnesses is different persons than they ask ID and Passport copies of.

[patman30]

Iirc
exluding the affidavit from embassy and translation
the most expensive part we paid was paying 2 motobike taxis 500 baht each to be witnesses

????‍♂️

Edited April 18, 2022 by patman30

[Moonlover]

On 4/4/2022 at 3:00 PM, Photoguy21 said:

Have the ceremony first then go to your local Ampur who will ask if you have had the ceremony. Assuming you say you have had it they will issue a marriage certificate

Complete and utter nonsense! The village ceremony is an informal affair with no legal standing whatsoever. 

[Moonlover]

On 4/4/2022 at 3:07 PM, bbko said:

When I got married to my Thai wife, went to our local amphur and paid something like 100b and we were legally married, it wasn't until a month later that we had the party/ceremony at her parent's village.

The time consuming part was making runs back and forth between my embassy and getting papers officially translated with the MFA.

OP, pay 30,000 if you want, but it's possible to DIY for about 10,000.

Edit: less time/money if you live in BKK.

Agreed. The only part we paid an agent for was to have the no impediment form from the embassy translated and legalized at the MFA. I think I paid 2,000 and that was probably a rip off, but it saved all the running around a big strange city.

 

The rest was DIY down the local Amphur with a couple of friends as witnesses.

 

 

[MajorTom]

1 hour ago, Eaglekott said:

No the witnesses is different persons than they ask ID and Passport copies of.

1: Get rid of that agent.

2: Get the document required from your passport country or embassy

3: Have it translated and MFA stamped. (Most translation offices will arrange all this for a fee)

4: Get Married.

 

This is not difficult.

[KhaoYai]

The only things you need to pay for is the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry, the certified copy of your passport and the translations/certification of those items. Less than 5000 baht.

[EdwardM]

Do they really require to know how much money we make before we can legally marry our fiancee? ????

[Eaglekott]

18 hours ago, EdwardM said:

Do they really require to know how much money we make before we can legally marry our fiancee? ????

It seams that the letter from the embassy need to state income. Or state that you do not have one if the wife support the husband.

 

[EdwardM]

1 hour ago, Eaglekott said:

It seams that the letter from the embassy need to state income. Or state that you do not have one if the wife support the husband.

 

My Embassy's template does not include this information. I checked around and seemed a lot of other countries' templates do not as well. Did you go through the marriage process recently @Eaglekott? What was your experience?

[Eaglekott]

24 minutes ago, EdwardM said:

My Embassy's template does not include this information. I checked around and seemed a lot of other countries' templates do not as well. Did you go through the marriage process recently @Eaglekott? What was your experience?

Yes, very recently, I got married today 555, was rather simpel and easy and we got help from a friend that had helped register marriages before. And the embassy stated my monthly income in the letter that has to be translated into Thai, It also contains contact information to two of my friends in Europe that certify I was single.

 

The template I filled in and left to the Embassy did not ask for a income, but they wanted a salary slip for one month.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Eaglekott

[EdwardM]

@Eaglekott Congratulations! So your marriage affidavit (the one you got the Embassy to stamp) did not state your income, so instead at the Amphur you showed them your last month's salary slip?

[Eaglekott]

11 minutes ago, EdwardM said:

@Eaglekott Congratulations! So your marriage affidavit (the one you got the Embassy to stamp) did not state your income, so instead at the Amphur you showed them your last month's salary slip?

Hi

 

The affidavit I got from the Embassy stated my income, Ampur did not ask for income.

[chriswebber999]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:37 PM, Eaglekott said:

Yes, very recently, I got married today 555, was rather simpel and easy and we got help from a friend that had helped register marriages before. And the embassy stated my monthly income in the letter that has to be translated into Thai, It also contains contact information to two of my friends in Europe that certify I was single.

 

The template I filled in and left to the Embassy did not ask for a income, but they wanted a salary slip for one month.

 

 

Hi did you manage to get married on the day itself or did the amphur need to verify your documents again with the thai MFA?

[Eaglekott]

5 hours ago, chriswebber999 said:

Hi did you manage to get married on the day itself or did the amphur need to verify your documents again with the thai MFA?

All done same day. Within a few hours. 

[chriswebber999]

1 hour ago, Eaglekott said:

All done same day. Within a few hours. 

Ok cool and 1 last thing. Do they still provide witness service or have to bring your own 2 witnesses?

[Onerak]

On 4/4/2022 at 3:00 AM, Photoguy21 said:

Have the ceremony first then go to your local Ampur

Can't you do the ceremony in a temple before the monks and then register it in the local Amphur? 

[Photoguy21]

On 6/11/2022 at 4:13 AM, Onerak said:

Can't you do the ceremony in a temple before the monks and then register it in the local Amphur? 

You can do the ceremony anywhere as far as I am aware. When I got married wee went to the temple to get the blessing if you like then went to the Amphur to register it

[Eaglekott]

On 6/11/2022 at 3:54 AM, chriswebber999 said:

Ok cool and 1 last thing. Do they still provide witness service or have to bring your own 2 witnesses?

We had the friend that helped us as one witness and a one staff was a witness for free. I guess different Amphurs has different rules.