Divorce Law?

[dragonfly94]

Living in Bkk with thai wife for six months married for 2.5 years, registered at amphur, not in UK as far as I know. Have no assets aquired after marriage and none in Bkk just sold house in UK and money in Bank there which is money we live on, I am retired. What would she be able to claim if as looks likely a divorce comes about after separation (me back to UK for good) Any help much appreciated as I am cluesless about this topic. We have no kids.

[sumrit]

Living in Bkk with thai wife for six months married for 2.5 years, registered at amphur, not in UK as far as I know. Have no assets aquired after marriage and none in Bkk just sold house in UK and money in Bank there which is money we live on, I am retired. What would she be able to claim if as looks likely a divorce comes about after separation (me back to UK for good) Any help much appreciated as I am cluesless about this topic. We have no kids.

I got divorced in Thailand about two months ago.

First you don't have to register a marriage in the UK. If you register your marriage in the Amphur it's also a legel marriage in the UK. As for divorce, if you divorce in the UK then UK rules apply. If you divorce in Thailand providing you both agree then you just go to your local Amphur to divorce. You need to go together and take your marriage certificate and your passport/ID card. The divorce form is a single page where you fill in your personal and marriage details and the only other questions concern any children you have had together and any assets/property you have both aquired in Thailand DURING the marriage. The assets are normally split 50-50 and must be agreed beforehand as when you sign the form you are both agreeing to what is written down. The Thai authorities have no control over any assets you have outside Thailand, although you might find it difficult to get your wife to agree to 50% of nothing if she knows you have money in the UK, and getting a divorce in the UK would probably be long drawn out and costly as she could then claim a percentage of your assets there. Personally I decided to pay my ex wife off and get divorced here in Thailand.

Providing you were married in Thailand you can also divorce there and it's recognised in the UK.

Also, unlike the UK, a divorce at the Amphur doesn't cost anything, it's free.

Hope this helps. PM me if you need any further information.

[torrenova]

If she thinks she can claim what you have out side of thailand she's living in cloud cuckoo land. For starters, it should all be offshore except property and you can protect property easily with first or second charges (effectively you owe someone else cash secured on your property).

If no kids then easy. Just walk away. If you want to give her something, make it formal and get her to agree, not her thieving family trying to suck you dry. Also, don't give her more than a few buttons or more of these women will use marriage as a way of obtaining wealth, like a business.

If she won't agree, just walk away. She can do nothing.

[Mapguy]

Living in Bkk with thai wife for six months married for 2.5 years, registered at amphur, not in UK as far as I know. Have no assets aquired after marriage and none in Bkk just sold house in UK and money in Bank there which is money we live on, I am retired. What would she be able to claim if as looks likely a divorce comes about after separation (me back to UK for good) Any help much appreciated as I am cluesless about this topic. We have no kids.

I got divorced in Thailand about two months ago.

First you don't have to register a marriage in the UK. If you register your marriage in the Amphur it's also a legel marriage in the UK. As for divorce, if you divorce in the UK then UK rules apply. If you divorce in Thailand providing you both agree then you just go to your local Amphur to divorce. You need to go together and take your marriage certificate and your passport/ID card. The divorce form is a single page where you fill in your personal and marriage details and the only other questions concern any children you have had together and any assets/property you have both aquired in Thailand DURING the marriage. The assets are normally split 50-50 and must be agreed beforehand as when you sign the form you are both agreeing to what is written down. The Thai authorities have no control over any assets you have outside Thailand, although you might find it difficult to get your wife to agree to 50% of nothing if she knows you have money in the UK, and getting a divorce in the UK would probably be long drawn out and costly as she could then claim a percentage of your assets there. Personally I decided to pay my ex wife off and get divorced here in Thailand.

Providing you were married in Thailand you can also divorce there and it's recognised in the UK.

Also, unlike the UK, a divorce at the Amphur doesn't cost anything, it's free.

Hope this helps. PM me if you need any further information.

This is a very clear and concise response. Here some additional observations

First, what I am noting here does not refer to a marriage in which there are children. I believe that Thai law does take care to look after their welfare in the case of divorce or death.

Regarding the disposition of property, if there is no other agreement to the contrary, I believe that the Thai Civil Code says basically that one retains claim to one's personal property owned before marriage and that, once the marriage ends, each spouse has a "50/50" claim to the "fruits" of that property during the marriage. If one spouse had stock worth $1000 at the date of marriage and that stock increased in value to $1500 during the marriage, each spouse has claim to $250. Of course, as noted already, property obtained during marriage is common property and would be split 50/50 unless there is some other agreement.

Now, in the case of a marriage of a Thai and a farang, when there is property overseas belonging to the farang, I have been told by one attorney that for the Thai partner to make a successful claim upon that property would be very, very difficult. I imagine that this might differ depending upon the country. The claimant would have first to identify the property, then establish what the increase of the value of that property has been during the marriage. Not easy. Then, the international process would be very, very expensive and difficult.

I consider the question still open and would be interested to hear about peoples' actual experience.

[torrenova]

The OP has no kids. It doesn't matter one iota whether he gets divorced or not, he can just walk away and get on a plane. The only point which is not clear is whether he has assets in Thailand which were acquired before marriage. If he has then he may choose to get divorced and pay her a small token.

Did he pay sinsot ? If so, where is that ? Gold at marriage ? gone already ? All these things need to be out in the open but if he rents a place and has no assets in Thailand and she won't sign to divorce him then just walk away.