Married in USA - Wanting an uncontested divorce in Thailand

[dingdongrb]

I am a US citizen living in Thailand with a retirement extension. My Thai wife and I were married in the USA over 15 years ago. We are seeking an uncontested divorce. We have never registered our marriage here in Thailand.

 

Can anyone who has similar backgrounds and have already gone thru an uncontested divorce process here in Thailand help me understand what we must do to accomplish this?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Dan O]

I believe you have to file in the state in the USA you were married in. Thailand won't care unless you plan to remarry here though. It's only a couple hundred dollars for a lawyer to file it for you in the usa

[dingdongrb]

2 minutes ago, Dan O said:

I believe you have to file in the state in the USA you were married in. Thailand won't care unless you plan to remarry here though. It's only a couple hundred dollars for a lawyer to file it for you in the usa

Thanks for that info. I'll contact the jurisdiction in the USA we were married in.

 

Can you, or anyone tell me then, since we didn't register our marriage here in Thailand does Thailand recognize us as being married? I did do the extension based on being married to a Thai before i changed it over to retirement.

 

I ask this because while I don't plan on remarrying soon I would however like to live with a Thai woman and I don't want any issues for her such as being accused of adultery. 

[Dan O]

1 minute ago, dingdongrb said:

Thanks for that info. I'll contact the jurisdiction in the USA we were married in.

 

Can you, or anyone tell me then, since we didn't register our marriage here in Thailand does Thailand recognize us as being married? I did do the extension based on being married to a Thai before i changed it over to retirement.

 

I ask this because while I don't plan on remarrying soon I would however like to live with a Thai woman and I don't want any issues for her such as being accused of adultery. 

Other than for visa or remarrying purposes I don't believe they care one way or the other. The only issue would be the Thai wife going after you if she gets pissed about something but not really anything she could do unless you die. Then she could go after your US assets 

[dingdongrb]

13 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Other than for visa or remarrying purposes I don't believe they care one way or the other. The only issue would be the Thai wife going after you if she gets pissed about something but not really anything she could do unless you die. Then she could go after your US assets 

She would have no reason to go after me as the divorce would be uncontested and with saying that she would have both residences here in Thailand as well as monthly alimony while I would keep the residence in the USA.

 

I am only concerned if the wife could pursue an adultery case against a girlfriend if there was no divorce here in Thailand. But if Thailand doesn't recognize us being married since we never registered here I don't foresee that as any possible issue.

[DrJoy]

10 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

only concerned if the wife could pursue an adultery case against a girlfriend if there was no divorce here in Thailand

Did you register your marriage in the Thai district office?

[dingdongrb]

2 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

Did you register your marriage in the Thai district office?

I thought I made it known 3 different times?

 

"We have never registered our marriage here in Thailand."

 

"Can you, or anyone tell me then, since we didn't register our marriage here in Thailand does Thailand recognize us as being married?"

 

"But if Thailand doesn't recognize us being married since we never registered here I don't foresee that as any possible issue."

[Dan O]

21 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

She would have no reason to go after me as the divorce would be uncontested and with saying that she would have both residences here in Thailand as well as monthly alimony while I would keep the residence in the USA.

 

I am only concerned if the wife could pursue an adultery case against a girlfriend if there was no divorce here in Thailand. But if Thailand doesn't recognize us being married since we never registered here I don't foresee that as any possible issue.

I was replying to your comment only if you didn't divorce in usa, they can recognize your marriage here for visa purposes and also if you want to remarry you must prove you're divorced. Once divorced in usa it's done, 

[DrJoy]

13 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

I thought I made it known 3 different times?

 

"We have never registered our marriage here in Thailand."

 

"Can you, or anyone tell me then, since we didn't register our marriage here in Thailand does Thailand recognize us as being married?"

 

"But if Thailand doesn't recognize us being married since we never registered here I don't foresee that as any possible issue."

I did do the extension based on being married to a Thai before i changed it over to retirement

 

 

How did you accomplish that then?

[dingdongrb]

7 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

I did do the extension based on being married to a Thai before i changed it over to retirement

 

 

How did you accomplish that then?

Accomplished what?

 

Doing an extension based on being married to a Thai?

 

or

 

Changing it over to a retirement extension?

[dingdongrb]

13 minutes ago, Dan O said:

I was replying to your comment only if you didn't divorce in usa, they can recognize your marriage here for visa purposes and also if you want to remarry you must prove you're divorced. Once divorced in usa it's done, 

I understand that and that is how I interpreted what you replied with. As I said, I will be contacting the relevant jurisdiction in the USA to see what I need to do to get the divorce.

[NORDO]

My brother had dual citizenship.   USA was one of the Passports.  He lived BKK married to Thai lady.   They went Las Vegas and did a legal five minute wedding.   Never registered Thailand.  

When they took different paths in life, he called a divorce Attorney in Nevada and did the whole shebang online Zoom call with Judge.

Contested...

He had the Divorce attorney send the "soon to be" ex the divorce papers via FedEx with signature required on acceptance.   That met the legal requirements of being served the notice.   She had 90 days to respond.   She did not respond and the judge gave her nothing in the divorce.

 

Uncontested...

Get a Paralegal to draw up the papers and submit them to the court.   You and "soon to be" Ex will need to each submit a financial statement and attest it is a pre-agreed, non contested divorce.  

 

I did this when I divorced a yank fro the State of Oregon.  Paralegal was $375 USD.   Court fees were around $450 with the papers certified and FedExed to me.   took about 45 days.

 

THE KEY WORD IS UNCONTESTED

NO CHILDREN UNDER 18

NO LEGAL RECORD OF SPOUSAL ABUSE

ONE OF YOU NEEDS A USA ADDRESS

 

All this information is online.

[NORDO]

No marriage extension stamp in passport

No registered in Thailand

You are not recognized as being married.

 

My current Thai lady hooked up with a yank Ten years ago.   They married in Temple to please her family, but never registered in Thailand.   When he ran out on her, she had no recourse for a settlement because marriage was never registered and there is a period in which u must register the marriage.

[flexomike]

8 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

I thought I made it known 3 different times?

 

"We have never registered our marriage here in Thailand."

 

"Can you, or anyone tell me then, since we didn't register our marriage here in Thailand does Thailand recognize us as being married?"

 

"But if Thailand doesn't recognize us being married since we never registered here I don't foresee that as any possible issue."

I think the question being asked is how did you get a visa based on marriage when your marriage was never registered in Thailand

[marin]

13 minutes ago, flexomike said:

I think the question being asked is how did you get a visa based on marriage when your marriage was never registered in Thailand

Yes this is the question. I too am only married in the USA. In order to register my marriage here I need translations, plus visit the amphur office and get a Thai marriage registration. How did you manage to by pass all of that?

[dingdongrb]

1 hour ago, marin said:

Yes this is the question. I too am only married in the USA. In order to register my marriage here I need translations, plus visit the amphur office and get a Thai marriage registration. How did you manage to by pass all of that?

I'll have to go back and review all my paperwork kept during those extensions when I used 'marriage to a Thai'.

 

But if I recall I only had to show US Marriage Cert and copy of my prior divorce to US wife.

 

Yepper, just looked and that is all I had to provide as well as an affidavit from the US Consulate in Chiang Mai stating I was previously divorced in the USA and then married to my current Thai wife in the USA.

NOTE: I did the 'marriage to a Thai' extension seven times before changing to 'retirement'. I have scanned copies of every doc I provided for all 7 years and there was no doc about registering the marriage here in Thailand. Only docs about marriage was our US marriage cert and the affidavit I referred to.

 

Again, we have never ever registered our marriage here in Thailand or held a wedding ceremony here.

 

 

[dingdongrb]

2 hours ago, flexomike said:

I think the question being asked is how did you get a visa based on marriage when your marriage was never registered in Thailand

Maybe requirements have changed, I don't know. All I know is what I just posted.

 

Also my extensions based on 'marriage to a Thai' were done in the years 2009 thru 2015. 

[Stevemercer]

I think it is a little tricky.

 

You never registered your marriage in Thailand so you are not recognised under Thai law as being married. However, you successfully applied for a marriage extension, and renewed this many times, based on your overseas marriage. Usually your marriage has to be registered in Thailand before Immigration will do this.

 

I guess many of us responding to your OP are a bit confused by this and wonder if you or your wife registered the marriage many years ago and simply forgot about the paper work. Probably not, because it is a somewhat complicated process organising transalations, consulate certifications, notarisations etc. etc.

 

The bottom line is you are not registered as married in Thailand and the divorce will be uncontested. A other posters have stated, you will have to get the divorce in the relevant American jurisdiction.

 

If you are living with another Thai lady then you can tell her and sundry that you are separated from your wife and will be getting a divorce soon. If she is worried about gossip, and you are sure she is the one, just go through the Buddhist ceremony to satisfy her friends and family that you are not 'living in sin'.

[dingdongrb]

2 hours ago, Stevemercer said:

I think it is a little tricky.

 

You never registered your marriage in Thailand so you are not recognised under Thai law as being married. However, you successfully applied for a marriage extension, and renewed this many times, based on your overseas marriage. Usually your marriage has to be registered in Thailand before Immigration will do this.

 

I guess many of us responding to your OP are a bit confused by this and wonder if you or your wife registered the marriage many years ago and simply forgot about the paper work. Probably not, because it is a somewhat complicated process organising transalations, consulate certifications, notarisations etc. etc.

 

The bottom line is you are not registered as married in Thailand and the divorce will be uncontested. A other posters have stated, you will have to get the divorce in the relevant American jurisdiction.

 

If you are living with another Thai lady then you can tell her and sundry that you are separated from your wife and will be getting a divorce soon. If she is worried about gossip, and you are sure she is the one, just go through the Buddhist ceremony to satisfy her friends and family that you are not 'living in sin'.

While I am getting up there in age (64) my mind as well as my memory is nice and clear. We never registered our marriage in Thailand. That is for sure!

 

When I did the 'marriage to Thai' extensions there was nothing needed as far as translations. They required that affidavit saying we were married in the USA, saying I was legally divorced prior to marrying my Thai wife, and my daughter was born in the USA. Other than that affidavit I had to provide copies (2 of everything as it was a 'marriage' extension) of the following (again, no translation needed):

 

- USA divorce decree of my prior marriage

- USA Marriage cert for me and my Thai wife

- Thai wife's ID

- Thai wife's house book

- Daughter's USA birth cert

- and other various things such as rental house contract, House book of rental house owner, map to house, pic of family, and how I provided income to support my family (for that I provided a copy of my 1040 Tax form).

 

Again the last time I did this was in 2015, Since then I've been going the 'retirement' route. All were done at the Chiang Mai immigration office. I am sure things have changed since then as there was no bank statements needed. Matter of fact, if I recall, I used to get another affidavit from the US Consulate stating I made 'x' amount of USD each month but the Consulate stopped providing that.

 

The only thing I recall needing a lot of transactions for was: 1) When my wife and I submitted the application for the K1 fiancé visa process to get her to the USA.......  and 2) Getting my daughter, who was born in the USA, a Thai birth certificate.

 

 I can understand the confusion because i don't think what I did then would be enough for today's process.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I am currently in process of contacting the Clerk of Court where we were married to learn what they require to obtain a recognizable divorce there in the USA.

[AgMech Cowboy]

17 hours ago, Dan O said:

I believe you have to file in the state in the USA you were married in. Thailand won't care unless you plan to remarry here though. It's only a couple hundred dollars for a lawyer to file it for you in the usa

17 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

Thanks for that info. I'll contact the jurisdiction in the USA we were married in.

@dingdongrb Let me know if this works for you and which state. When I enquired in Texas to file for a dvrc 'we' needed to be living there for 6 months. In Colorado, I could file without her, but I needed to be there 6 weeks (I think it was). 

 

My circumstance is a bunch different than yours... My wife would like the divorce.  I don't care, but if we 'really' pursued one, she wouldn't be happy, because she'd have to sell the house and split the 'settlement' with me. (I live in the house full time. She comes and goes).  I could go for 1/2 the car and 1/2 the land we bought upcountry, too.  So, even though you did not register the marriage here, your certificate from the USA is a legal document recognised by the Thai government.  The Thai Embassies and Consulates are more than happy to accept the marriage certificate in English to issue a Non-O Immigrant visa.  I'm not sure when it was started, but to get a one year extension based on marriage, I know the Marriage Certificate has to be translated. I do not know if you must register the marriage at the Ampoe (aka amphur).  (The last part of the different circumstance...  I will never steady date another woman (unless she's got money), but won't rule out a one or two night stand, but ain't carousing to do so, either).

 

What it have heard about...  You and your legally married wife can register the marriage at the Ampoe and divorce the same day (or the next).  Then you're all free and clear marriage wise in Thailand (and the USA).   Maybe I read that someplace... Maybe over at ThaiVisa when it was.

 

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

You do nto have to get divorced in same US state that you were married. I know as did it many years ago.

 

But you need to have an address or some basis for claiming residency in the state where you do divorce.

[dingdongrb]

4 hours ago, AgMech Cowboy said:

When I enquired in Texas to file for a dvrc 'we' needed to be living there for 6 months. In Colorado, I could file without her, but I needed to be there 6 weeks (I think it was). 

 

What it have heard about...  You and your legally married wife can register the marriage at the Ampoe and divorce the same day (or the next).  Then you're all free and clear marriage wise in Thailand (and the USA).   Maybe I read that someplace... Maybe over at ThaiVisa when it was.

That's a consideration I may check on but I would rather not register here and get it done in the USA although I have no intentions to go back and stay there awhile in order to obtain a divorce.

[dingdongrb]

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

You do nto have to get divorced in same US state that you were married. I know as did it many years ago.

 

But you need to have an address or some basis for claiming residency in the state where you do divorce.

That is nice to know, thanks.. I'm hoping that's still the case which would give me options perhaps of choosing different states. 

 

Although I no longer have a US residence per se I use my brother's address for any required business needs.

 

Up until 3 years ago I filed state tax returns until I sold my residence there.

[Sterling]

You normally have to have residency in the US State you want to file the divorce in.

Luckily, Guam only requires 7 days "residency" to file for divorce there.

Fly in, meet with the divorce lawyer to get the paperwork together. Be a tourist for 7 days and on day 8, file the papers.

As long as she agrees and signs the paperwork, you're good to go.

I would recommend doing a Google search for Guam Divorce Lawyers to get more information.

Good luck!

[dingdongrb]

18 hours ago, Sterling said:

You normally have to have residency in the US State you want to file the divorce in.

Luckily, Guam only requires 7 days "residency" to file for divorce there.

Fly in, meet with the divorce lawyer to get the paperwork together. Be a tourist for 7 days and on day 8, file the papers.

As long as she agrees and signs the paperwork, you're good to go.

I would recommend doing a Google search for Guam Divorce Lawyers to get more information.

Good luck!

Good suggestion but I'd rather try to get it completed without going through the hassle and cost of; re-entry permit, airline costs and flying time; hotel costs, etc.

[Rimmer]

A post with a commecial link to a German language site has been removed.

[bunnydrops]

I am pretty sure his marriage is registered. Every year you need to bring in that form from the local office showing you are still married to get an extension.

[dingdongrb]

3 hours ago, bunnydrops said:

I am pretty sure his marriage is registered. Every year you need to bring in that form from the local office showing you are still married to get an extension.

I am positive we are not registered here in Thailand.

 

I have posted what I had to provide each year I did the 'marriage' extension for 7 straight years (2009 thru 2015). Look at an earlier post I made listing what I provided,

 

I am a pretty savvy organizer when it comes to personal records and data retention. Just like my tax returns I have a folder for every year I have done the extension process as well as 90 day reporting. In each folder I have a scanned copy of not just the completed application form but of every document I provided each time. And in those folders there is not a copy of any Thai registration of marriage. Likewise, there is no such document in my safe along with original copies of other important documents.

[Pink Mist]

Did you submit a Kor Ror 2 to show you were married?

[dingdongrb]

7 minutes ago, Pink Mist said:

Did you submit a Kor Ror 2 to show you were married?

No

 

As I stated, our USA marriage certificate and an affidavit from the US Consulate (Chiang Mai) stating we were married in the USA (when & where).

 

I find it humorous as well as annoying that no matter how many times I have stated we have not registered our marriage in Thailand that people are still questioning it.